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The trio approached the meeting place, laughing and joking when Naruto and Sakura stopped in their tracks. Yamato looked at them curiously.
“Sakura-chan, punch me.”
Sakura gathered a minimum amount of chakra on her fist and drew her fist back. Yamato gulped and stepped away to avoid being drawn into it.
Sakura brought her fist forward and it landed neatly on Naruto’s cheek. Yamato cringed when Naruto took the hit and landed in the grass ten meters away from where he was originally standing.
Sakura ran up to Naruto and helped him up.
“How does it feel, Naruto? Does it hurt?” Yamato sweat at the question. He was sure that even if he was being grazed slightly by that chakra filled fist, it will hurt like hell.
“Sakura-chan, I think my facial bones have cracked.” Naruto grimace in pain. Sakura looked down at her hand.
“So it’s real?” Yamato frowned. Up till that point in time, he still wasn’t sure what the two were trying to prove.
“What is it, Naruto? Sakura?”
Almost at the same time, the two pointed at the direction where their meeting place was set to be. He followed the direction and tried to see what they had been so shocked with. He frowned when he failed to detect anything suspicious.
“Erm… What?”
“Kakashi-sensei is here. For the first time since we knew him all these years. He’s punctual! No wait. He’s not only punctual. But he’s earlier than us!” Sakura gasped disbelievingly. Yamato managed a smile.
“Well, he isn’t that bad. Back in our ANBU days, he’s punctual too.” Then he sighed. “But that is because we always know where to find him if he’s late.” He realized that the two teens had been more than accurate about their sensei’s punctuality issues.
“Well, at any rate, he’s here. So which means, we can hurry over to Hokage-sama and pick up the mission.”
“Hai.” With a sigh, Naruto and Sakura followed Yamato across the grass patch.
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“This is your mission. All you have to do is to spy and get the information.” Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temple.
“Hai, Tsunade-sama.” Kakashi took the scroll handed over by Shizune.
“Wait, Kakashi.” Tsunade eyed the group in front of her cautiously and sighed again. ‘There is something I must say, even though I know what your response will be.” The four shinobis glanced at each other before nodding.
“This is an A-rank mission. But judging from the look of things, it could become a S-rank anytime. And when it comes to that, things will take on a nasty turn. Kakashi and Yamato, I’m sure the two of you have been well trained in handling S-rank missions. But Naruto and Sakura hasn’t had too much of an experience. Are you sure you want to take on this mission?”
“Baa-chan, what are you talking about? Of course we will take it. There’s nothing too difficult for us.” Naruto grinned. Sakura nodded determinedly.
“Well, I guess that settles it. I’m sure they are old enough to take care of themselves. And Tsunade-sama, someone has to do this. I’m sure you can’t afford to have an all jounin team to handle this mission.” Kakashi smiled.
“Fine. But if you detect any changes or suspect anything, send a message back immediately. I will send you immediate backup.” She swept her gaze across the four of them. “I will have most of the jounins back from their missions by then.”
“You will depart tomorrow morning. I expect this mission to take not more than two weeks. If I do not hear from you after a safe period of two and a half weeks, I will send out a search team.” Tsunade closed her eyes as she tried to relax her mind. “Well then, be careful and good luck.”
Watching the group left her office, Tsunade bit her lower lip. She was beginning to have a bad feeling about this mission.
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The group walked down the corridor in silence.
“Ne sensei, is this mission going to be a tough one?” Naruto put his hands behind his head as he walked in front of Yamato and Kakashi.
“Hmm…… I reckon it will be. It is after all a possible S-rank mission.” Kakashi flipped the book to the next page as he continued reading.
“Well, Naruto, I hope you are not going to back out of this, especially after what you had said in the Hokage’s office.” Yamato chuckled.
Naruto scowled. “Of course I’m not going to. I just want to find out the level of difficulty so that I can be fully prepared for it. After all……….. Eh?” Naruto paused mid-sentence when he saw someone coming out from the mission room. He grinned and ran up to the person.
“Iruka-sensei!” Iruka turned and looked at the grinning blond in front of him.
“Oh, Naruto. What is it?”
“Ne Iruka-sensei, you don’t look well. Your eyes are swollen.” Naruto peered at his teacher closely.
“Naruto, I’m fine.” Iruka edged nervously away from the boy and attempted to change the topic. “Why are you looking for me?”
“Oh, I was wondering if you would like to have ramen together for dinner tonight.”
Iruka sighed before smiling at the boy. “Well, what’s the occasion? I thought we just ate together this afternoon.”
“Well, I’m going away for a mission tomorrow and won’t be back for two weeks. So I wanted to eat with you again, since I won’t be seeing you for a while.” Naruto scratched his head. Iruka let out a low laughter.
“And it won’t only be us! There’s Sakura-chan, Yamato-taichou and Kakashi-sensei.” The blond beamed as he pointed excitedly at his team mates walking towards them. Iruka froze when he looked up at the silver haired jounin standing behind Naruto.
Kakashi averted his gaze when brown eyes bore into his single grey eye. It took all of his control to refrain from pouncing on the chunin and hugging him when he noted the red eyes of his ex-lover. ‘He’s been crying.’
“Iruka-sensei?” Iruka snapped from his reverie and stared back at the boy.
“Naruto, I don’t think I will be able to join you. There’s too much things to do.” Iruka forced a smile.
“Iruka-sensei, you are working too hard. You aren’t even eating properly. Take it as a farewell dinner for me. You won’t be seeing me for half a month.” Naruto frowned. “And this time, we are making sure that Kakashi-sensei buys us dinner. You wouldn’t want to miss out on a free meal.” He shot a mischievous glance at Sakura who laughed.
Kakashi frowned and then sigh. “Well, Naruto, I can buy you dinner for tonight. But I won’t be joining.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out some cash. “Here you go.”
“Senpai, you are being unusually generous today. What’s got into you?” Yamato stifled a laugh.
“Yeah, you are weird, sensei.” Sakura looked at her teacher suspiciously, wondering if he had been brainwashed. “And why aren’t you joining us?”
“Maa… I need to prepare for the mission tomorrow. So, enjoy yourself. I’m off.” Before anyone could say a word, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a genin, two chunins and a jounin staring at the space where he had previously been standing.
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