Disclaimers: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I also need to confess some lack of familiarity with feudal terms, organizational politics, and the other details of the Land of Fire. I am reversing the names (Kakashi Hatake instead of Hatake Kakashi) for what seems to be more natural English reading for me and adding honorifics like spice. Just a dab here and there in the narrative and where appropriate in the dialogue. I fear updating will be slow – but I'll do my best!
It was easy to navigate through the wide and smooth streets of Konohagakure. The village which existed to support the ninjas of the Land of Fire was new enough that some thought for its design had been put into place. Instead of growth forcibly shoved into old infrastructure, there was a natural progression and an almost aggressive integration. Civilians walked among ninja, and ninja who were half-heartedly reading pornographic books walked among civilians.
That changed once Kakashi Hatake and his preferred reading material got closer to the offices of the Hokage. There were more ninja here, still going about their days and whatever in-village missions they might have. He relaxed ever so slightly. After all, his habits were well known among his comrades and he could trust that they, unlike some of the civilians, would not accidentally bump into him if he didn't keep an eye out for their actions as well as his own. He was at a particularly riveting chapter.
One step, two step. He climbed up one set of stairs and then abandoned them all together. It was a fine day and he trusted that the Hokage, as leader of the village, would have her windows open to enjoy it. And if she didn't, well, he'd knock politely then, wouldn't he?
After all, she was the one who had summoned him.
It was a mission, of course. It wasn't like Kakashi would be summoned directly to the Hokage's office for anything less. Most of his assignments came straight from Tsunade herself lately, rather than delivered strictly through the chunin desk in the mission office. This wasn't something he minded, since it usually cut out a lot of reading between the lines work on what was being asked of him. And, for the types of missions he was used to being assigned in these troubled times; there was always at least one hook involved.
Though, he had to admit, he did somewhat miss baiting Iruka Umino, the Academy sensei who worked part time at the mission office. The man's temper could be legendary if it was pricked just right and it was often amusing to see what would serve as adequate catalyst.
It took little effort and almost no thought to spring up the side of the building to the broad rooftop that loomed just over the window in question. While Kakashi did not put his book away, he did pause to briefly listen in to the voices that were carrying.
"Tsunade-sama!" the deferential yet worried tone could only belong to Shizune, the Hokage's personal assistant. "Surely you can't be serious."
"Of course I'm serious," the woman's voice was thoroughly irritated, "Unless you have another solution that you haven't shared?"
"Ah – no… But! But!"
"There is no more to talk about!" The loud smack of a heavy hand on a desk echoed and the whispering sound of papers falling to the ground followed. "Can you or can you not do what is required of you?"
"Yes, I can, but I don't think…"
"That's settled. Now if only that Kakashi would…."
That was his cue to enter. Or, at least, his cue that Tsunade had had enough of his eavesdropping. He jumped through the window, feet landing with a quiet thud.
"Yo," he said mildly, moving to join the dark-haired assistant on the opposite side of the Hokage's desk. "You called for me, Hokage-sama?"
He was faced with two awe-inducing sights as he faced his Hokage. One was the thundercloud scowl twisting her expression. A wise ninja quickly learned that any signs of ill temper from Tsunade were to be noted as potential heralds of doom. While her face was heart-shaped and lovely and there were no signs of age by those warm chocolate eyes, the woman had the temper of an impressively pissed off bull. Even more, her chakra control gave her unnatural strength and she was not afraid to use it to intimidate, correct, or simply vent. The frequently replaced furniture of her office could attest to that.
The second sight, of course, had to do with the fact that she'd planted both her hands on her desk to glare at Shizune, and now him. Leaned forward as she was, the cleavage revealed by the neck of her robe would have caused many lesser men to stare.
Kakashi did not stare. He wanted to remain intact.
"It's about time," Tsunade said sharply. She picked up a file, seemingly at random, off of her desk and tossed it to him wordlessly. He caught it, though he had to put his book away to do so. "I have a mission for you."
The basics were easily and conveyed. Since Kakashi gave the mission details his full attention (no matter what his slouched shoulders and half-lidded gaze implied) he had no trouble absorbing the gist of it. There was a sickness in the western provinces that was creating some concern.
It was not so much that there was sickness, plagues and the like did sometimes occur. It was the fact that this particular illness seemed to have a knack for striking only the enemies of that county's lord and several other important political influencers in the area. The enemies did not seem to recover. Some of the richer merchants and council members oddly did. Their newfound health was usually paired with an abrupt about face on policies or tax issues.
The working theory was that the lord, a Hikaru Fukuda, was using some sort of previously unknown poison to consolidate his position and eliminate threats. The complication came in how delicately they needed to handle the situation. Fukuda was no gem, but he was a known quantity that stabilized the area. While such tactics needed to be answered, they had to subtle about how it was done. There could be no public loss of face which could encourage a political scramble, while at the same time there had to be a distinctly private scolding that would carry the weight of the Feudal Lord's wrath.
"I see," Kakashi mused. "Ma, this does seem to be a difficult one, doesn't it?"
"There is a short window coming up in which Fukuda will be attending a wedding in a neighboring district. During that time, we need to verify that he is using poison, find a sample of it, create a cure, prepare to have it distributed through assets in the city, and encourage him to rethink his strategies."
Something seemed a little off here. Tsunade was rarely quite so pointed about how a mission should be handled. Kakashi raised a finger, "Question. Why do we need to accomplish all of this while he is out of the city? Surely there'd be more impact if it happened under his nose, so to speak?"
The Hokage shook her head, "Yes, but this is hardly a simple in and out mission. We'll need to find those samples and create a cure on the fly. That means we'll need some space to work and the fewer guards around the better. Fukuda will be taking most of them with him on his journey." She anticipated his next question, almost as if she'd already been asked it by others, tone sharpening, "And no, we can't take a sample and bring it back here. The poison works quickly and we want /some/ of the opposing parties to live if possible. There's not much time left."
"There's no time to lose then," Kakashi agreed with a placating smile. "I suppose it will be Sakura accompanying me?" He fished a little. Obviously there'd need to be a skilled medic-nin accompanying him. He was aware of only two that really fit the bit, Shizune and Sakura. Both were apprentices of Tsunade and both had become truly formidable in their healing talents as a result. Given Shizune's pinched expression and protests of earlier, Kakashi was betting she'd been drafted. Maybe there was some sort of clerical emergency and she was upset at the prospect of being dragged away from her self-appointed task of getting the Hokage to get through her paper-work?
"No," the Hokage said, dark eyes glinting. "I'll be joining you on this mission."
For the first time in months,(the last time being when Gai had challenged him to a hair braiding contest with a venomous Neji somehow blackmailed into service), Kakashi's jaw dropped.