"My god..." Sasuke muttered. "I should've stayed in the Lands Between a bit longer..." He spoke as he sat, hiding on a tree branch.
-Distance to the target?- Kakashi's voice comes from the earpiece in Sasuke's right ear.
-Five meters. I'm ready for the move.- Sakura responded through the earpiece, followed by Naruto. -I am too!-
Sasuke reached up and pressed the unmute button on his earpiece before speaking. "Me too." He nodded and muted it again.
-Go!- Kakashi commanded and Sasuke sprung into action. Jumping from branch to branch, he landed on the ground and dashed to a tree. His back against it, he leaned over a bit and stuck his head out of cover, looking for their target. Lifting his head, he unmutes.
-Target confirmed. To the front.- He spoke, seeing Naruto close to his position and gestured with his head where the target was.
-On it...- Naruto nodded and they both jumped out of cover and onto something.
"Nyaaa!" The cat below the two boys screamed out in distress as it flung it's claws wildly in the air, somehow only striking Naruto's face.
Seeing the danger, Sasuke stood up after making sure Naruto had a firm grip around the cat.
-Are you sure this is our target?- Kakashi asked through the earpiece and Sasuke glanced at the growling cat in Naruto's arms. "Yes I'm sure." He responded.
-Good.- Kakashi's voice came through. -Mission complete! Let's head back to the Hokage's office.- With that command, Kakashi shut down comms, sending a high pitched noise through the others' earpieces.
Taking the thing out, Sasuke sighed. "Let's go." He spoke to Naruto and they both started walking off into the direction of the Hokage's building.
As they walked, Sasuke was deep in thought... Or more so regret. After he had returned to his world, they started doing missions. But that didn't irk him as much, since he'd have time during the night to go back to the Lands Between.
But.
Kakashi had been a sore and large needle in his side. The man had commanded the three of them to share the same apartment for some time to bond more as a team since they had only formed recently.
Now that wouldn't be a problem. And it wasn't. Sasuke had snuck out one night to go to the Lands Between, but it seemed Kakashi was late to the sleepover.
---That night.---
Sasuke stood up from his bed and glanced around the room, making sure both Naruto and Sakura was asleep before he tiptoed to the front door. It had been over an hour since they said goodnight to each other so he hoped he had some time.
Slowly, he opened the front door, expecting to see the silent and dead street in front of the house but he saw...
"Oh, Hello Sasuke." Kakashi's lazy voice surprised Sasuke as the poor boy jumped back a bit. Yawning, Kakashi spoke. "Sorry I'm a bit late. Had to deal with some things." He said and pushed Sasuke out of the doorway and walked in.
Sasuke forced his bubbling anger down as Kakashi stopped in his tracks and faced Sasuke with a raised eyebrow. "Why are you awake?" He asked.
Sasuke's mind quickly searched for an excuse at the time and opted to say:
"Oh... I needed to go to the bathroom..." Sasuke answered nonchalantly.
Kakashi glanced at the open door. "Outside?" He asked slowly, to which Sasuke followed his gaze, nodding along.
"Why not?"
-----
Shaking his head at the memory, Sasuke focused on the present as the three of them reached the door to the Hokage's office where Kakashi stood, leaned against the wall. Next to him was a fat lady who looked slightly distressed, but quickly brushed it away at the sight of the cat in Naruto's grip.
"Ah! Tora!" The lady yelled out and grabbed the cat out of Naruto's arms, squeezing the life out of it with a hug.
"Is this right..?"
Sasuke turned to his side and saw Naruto whisper to Kakashi. Shaking his head, he looked on as Kakashi sent the fat lady home with a farewell before he entered the Hokage's office, followed by the three Genin.
"Ah. Team Kakashi." The Hokage spoke up, seeing the team enter the office.
Nodding at the Hokage, Kakashi stepped forward and handed the mission scroll to Hiruzen while he spoke. "C-Rank mission rescue Tora has been completed." He announced and the Hokage nodded, putting the scroll away.
"Now let's see..." Hiruzen muttered, his eyes landing on the many scrolls he had placed on his desk, prepared for the new rookie teams. "Team Kakashi's next duties are..." As he spoke, he picked up a scroll and unrolled it. "Babysitting an elder's grandson, helping with the potato digging, paintin-"
His words not finished as Naruto yelled out. "No! No! No!" Naruto crossed his hands in front of him, forming an X. "No thank you! I wanna do something, you know! Like something worthwhile! Find us a better mission gramps!" He demanded.
Sakura stepped forward and raised her fist, ready to smack the shit out of the boy, but the Hokage spoke up, sighing.
"Naruto... Everyday the Village receives multiple mission ranging from rescuing cats..." He gestured to the door, having them think of their last mission. "To assassinations." His voice turned serious.
"All the missions gets written down on these scrolls before being divided between the difficulty ranking. Ranging from D for easiest and S to hardest." As he explained, he pointed to Kakashi. "The most difficult missions are left for the strongest people in the village. Jonin like Kakashi."
*Snoooore!*
Hiruzen's eyebrows twitch in annoyance at the mock sound of snoring coming from Naruto. Clenching his fist, he slams his desk. "Listen Naruto!" He yells at the boy, who turned to face him.
"Geez." Naruto crossed his arms. "All you do is give lectures all the time... But you know what?" Naruto pointed at Hiruzen. "I'm not the troublemaking kid anymore!"
His outburst silenced the office as Hiruzen smirked. "Alright then." He chuckles and takes out a scroll from his desk, as if he had prepared for this. "I'll assign a C-Rank mission to you guys."
The three Genin widened their eyes while Kakashi only raised an eyebrow. "Really?!" Naruto spoke out, excitedly.
Nodding at Naruto, Hiruzen spoke. "It's a bodyguard mission."
"Ohhh! Who will we be protecting?! a Princess?" Naruto asked a barrage of questions, his imagination already running wild while Sasuke turned to the office door as he heard someone walking towards it.
"I'll introduce him now." Hiruzen spoke calmly and the office door opened. Revealing an old man holding alcohol in one hand.
Taking a sip of his drink, the man spoke. "What the hell is this..? a Bunch of brats are supposed to protect me?" As he spoke, he glanced at Kakashi. "At least you look reliable..." He muttered.
"This drunk's our contractor..?" Sasuke turned to the Hokage and spoke for the first time since entering.
Hiruzen turned to him and smiled, nodding at his question. "Please introduce yourself." He spoke, directing his words at the drunken man that entered.
"My name is Tazuna and I'm a super expert bridge builder." He started out. "And I expect you to provide me with super protection until I get back to my country and finish building the bridge."
'He likes the word super?' Sasuke thought, noting the fact that Tazuna hadn't looked at either three of the children in the office and only spoke to Kakashi. 'Whatever.'
Kakashi turned to his team before speaking up. "Alright team. Head home and gather the supplies needed. We'll meet at the village gates in one and a half hours." He concluded as the three of them nodded and walked out of the office.
---
After a few seconds, only Kakashi and the Hokage was left and Hiruzen's smile faded. "Have you found anything new about Sasuke?" He asked, tipping his pipe over into a glass container, emptying it out before retrieving some new tobacco from his robe.
Kakashi lazily took out another scroll and handed it to Hiruzen as he spoke. "No, sir Hokage. He only leaves during the night it seems, when he knows no one will bother him, but recently I have decided to bunk the teammates together, explaining it as team building, to stop him."
Hiruzen nodded slowly as he listened.
"I have yet to figure out where he's going to, but once again, I would like to request time, Hokage sir." Kakashi's lazy expression turned serious. "From what I understand, he holds no malicious intent to the Village, only his older brother."
Hiruzen put his pipe and the scroll down and stared into Kakashi's eye. "Danzo has already caught wind of it." He said simply, but those simple words caused Kakashi's eye to narrow dangerously.
"I understand, sir Hokage." Kakashi bowed slightly and exited the office, leaving a sighing Hiruzen behind.
"Haah..." He massaged his temples. "I can only do so much for you Kakashi..." He muttered.
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