白虎 ロキ

Chapter One:

綱手の手紙

Tsunade's Letter

"Kakashi."

Kakashi looked up from his paperwork to see Tsunade in the doorway. "Lady Tsunade. To what do I owe this visit?"

Tsunade smirked ruefully, "I got a letter." Walking over towards the desk, she deposited it in front of Kakashi. It was made of what looked to be parchment in the shape of an envelope and had an ornate wax seal. "It was delivered by owl."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Owl? I've never heard of shinobi using owls for mail delivery." He carefully picked up the envelope, examining it. As he looked it over she replied, "I never said it was from a shinobi."

He looked up, and she smirked. "A civilian?"

"Wrong again," she said, walking around the desk. She stopped in front of one of the many windows. "It was sent by a wizard."

Kakashi stared and waited for her to continue. When it was clear she wasn't going to, he asked hesitantly, "A wizard sent it to you? From...from the outside?"

Tsunade turned her head to look at him over her shoulder, "An old of my grandfather's—from before they sealed the continent off."

"But..." Kakashi stared, "How is that even possible?"

She snorted, turning back to the window. "Wizards have their ways. I asked him about it—apparently he's pushing a hundred and fifty."

Kakashi exhaled, "That's..."

"It's not like...it's not like Madara, or Kakuzu. Wizards...they have their own ways. Less..." Tsunade grimaced. "...unpleasant ways."

Kakashi looked back at the letter in his hands, thoughtful. "So...why are you telling me this?"

Finally she turned around, her expression stern. "He's sent me a request."

Warily, Kakashi asked, "What kind of request?"

She nodded to the envelope in his hand, "Read it for yourself."

He did.

"So...he wants us to send a shinobi, to guard a magical stone...the very same stone that granted him his apparent immortality?"

"Not immortality," she corrected, "Just...extended life."

Kakashi sighed, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. "And how are we going to respond to this? Who would we even send?"

Tsunade smirked. "That's up to you."

Kakashi looked up, "Wha—"

"You're the Hokage, now," she interjected. "It's up to you...Rokudaime-sama." And with that, she left.

Kakashi sighed heavily, "Why me..."

"Gaara," Kakashi said, smiling under his mask. "It's good to see you. How was your journey?"

"Uninterrupted," Gaara replied, satisfactory. "Ever since the War there has been little conflict among shinobi." Gaara gracefully sat down across from Kakashi, placing his Kazekage hat beside Kakashi's on the table.

"Thanks to you." Gaara looked up. "Your speech," Kakashi clarified. "It's because of you that shinobi from all nations were able to find common ground and make their peace with one another."

"They did that of their own accord. I merely gave them the push they needed."

"Nevertheless, without you, that may never have happened." Kakashi waved over a server and the two ordered. He winced at Gaara's order of salted tongue and gizzard; The villages may have may have made their peace with one another, but Kakashi thinks he may never make peace with Gaara's taste in food—he hoped not all of Suna was like this…Kakashi meanwhile ordered salt-broiled saury and miso soup with eggplant. At least his favorite food didn't involve tongues or gizzards.

"Anyway, Gaara…so how are things with you?"

"Fine. What's wrong?"

"What?" Kakashi asked, bewildered. "What makes you think there's something wrong?"

"You look…" Gaara visibly struggled to find the right word. "…off," he finally settled upon. "What happened?"

Kakashi sighed heavily, reluctantly caving in to Gaara's questioning. "Lady Tsunade got a letter."

Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow, imploring Kakashi to continue.

"It's from…a wizard." Kakashi paused. "From the Other Side of the Barrier," he said, noticeably quieter.

Gaara's non-existent brows shot up and he leaned in closer, Kakashi doing the same. "Explain." His tone was borderline demanding, but otherwise flat as usual.

"An old friend of her grandfather's—long story—has sent a mission request."

Gaara narrowed his eyes. "What kind of mission."

Sighing, Kakashi leaned back. "It's a fairly simple mission—besides the bit about being in an unknown foreign land on the Other Side of the Barrier. It's a semi-undercover guard mission taking place in a school for…their kind," he finished quietly. He was hesitant to mention the wizards too loudly in such a public place, lest someone eavesdrop and overhear.

Kakashi continued, "The shinobi granted this mission will have to go undercover as a teacher, secretly guarding an artifact hidden in the school."

Gaara frowned, interjecting, "They hid the artifact in a school."

Kakashi winced. "Yeah…I've been told that this school is one of the safest locations in their land, hence their reasoning for hiding it there, but…I don't know." He lowered his head into his hands, absentmindedly massaging his temples. "Part of the mission was to also protect the students should they come into harm's way as result of someone going after the Stone."

"The Stone?"

"The artifact," Kakashi clarified.

Gaara nodded for him to continue.

"What I'm worried about, though…is I believe that if we don't send anyone, they're going to go about hiding it in the school anyways…"

"And without a shinobi there to watch over it, you're worried that innocent children are going to be hurt," Gaara finished.

"...yeah. Or maybe even killed."

Kakashi gave a tight-lipped smile—"know any shinobi willing to travel to the Other Side and stay there for up to a year away from their friends and family, in order to take on an undercover post as a teacher in a school for 'wizard' children?"

Gaara stared, thinking.

After a few moments of tense silence, "I'll do it."

"What?" Kakashi asked, uncomprehending. He blinked. "You'll…"

"I'll take the mission."

Kakashi's brows nearly reached his hairline. "You'll…you'll take the mission? You?"

"Yes. A mission like this, on the Other Side…you can't send just anyone. Not to mention there are not many people who would even be willing."

"But…you, Gaara?"

"My talent lies in defense. As someone guarding an artifact in a school full of children, my skills will come in handy. In addition, we will be sending a shinobi outside the Barrier for the first time in over a century…we will need someone similarly skilled in foreign diplomacy and politics. As a Kage, I have more than enough experience in this regard."

"But still, Gaara…you're the Kazekage. You can't just up and leave whenever you want," Kakashi implored.

"I trust my siblings to be able to run the village adequately in my absence. Besides," Gaara added, staring out the window and to the villagers below. "We are at peace. What better time to re-initiate contact with the Outside, than right now?"

Gaara turned back to Kakashi and stared at him with determination. "If we are going to do this, we are going to do it right." He tone left no room for argument.

Nonetheless—

"And if something happens?"

"I trust my village will be able to handle themselves until reinforcements arrive."

"I was talking about you, Gaara."

Gaara frowned, confused.

"What if something happens to you?"

"...I'll be fine."

"Will you?"

They stared at each other for a few moments in silence.

Finally Kakashi sighed, dropping his head into his hands again. "You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?"

Gaara stared.

"Alright, alright—fine. I'll draw up the details, you just get everything sorted out on your end."

Gaara nodded. Kakashi swears he saw a glimmer of satisfaction in Gaara's eyes at winning the mini-argument. "Contact me once everything is figured out," Gaara said.

And then he was gone. Kakashi didn't even see him eat his food, and dammit that was Kakashi's thing.

"This isn't going to end well, is it?" Kakashi said to himself.

"Here's your receipt, Hokage-sama. Will that be all?"

Kakashi sighed.

A/N: I'll update as soon as I can, thank you so much for your kind reviews!

In case this wasn't clear, I set this to take place around the same time as The Last, because I wanted Gaara to be just old enough that his age wouldn't seem TOO unreasonable for a teacher. Also, I thought his outfit around that time was most practical for an excursion to the Outside. (Plain buttondown and trousers and a small gourd attached to a belt on his hip, plus standard shinobi sandals.)

Finally, if you're curious as to why I had Gaara teaching a language: Most HPxNaruto crossover fanfiction where a shinobi goes undercover as a teacher, the class usually details something like physical education or "battle magic" or something similar. Basically, I'm tired of that (also I hate gym) and so I decided to take advantage of the fact that I'm currently taking my third semester of Japanese, and I'm going to base his teaching on how I was taught and the information from my textbook and workbook.

Please review! I get so excited every time that I see that I got a new review, and it drives me to update faster and more often! I love reading your reviews, even if it's simply just "i like this"!

Thank you!

Ja,

BL.