Knock, knock, knock.

"Enter."

The heavy, intricately carved pine door swung inwards on smoothly oiled hinges, bathing the spacious room in the dazzling morning light. A tall, scruffy-looking teenager strode confidently into the office, a petite white-and-brown dog accompanying him on his shoulder. His vertically slit eyes reflected the dim glow of the chakra lanterns strewn throughout the room. The maroon slashes on either cheek clearly marked him as a member of the Inuzuka clan.

Tsunade, a rather large, imposing woman with enormous breasts, sat behind a pinewood desk in an expensive-looking leather chair. She inclined her head. "Inuzuka Kiba."

"Godaime Tsunade-sama," Kiba replied. As he spoke, his lips revealed ferally curved fangs. "You called?"

"Yes, I did," she acknowledged. One of her blonde pigtails slithered over her shoulder as she reached across her desk to a large stack of files. From it, she removed a sheaf of official-looking, rather blue-tinted parchment.

"I have received a rather interesting request from the Land of Waves," she told him blandly, "And as you are the only Junnin currently unoccupied, I decided to summon you." She tossed her head supremely. "As you probably know, the current Emperor of Waves is preparing to relinquish his throne to his son."

Kiba blinked, finding no significance in this statement. Where was she going with this? Tsunade held up a finger.

"You also know that in order for his son to become Emperor, he must first marry." Akamaru gave a soft bark of affirmation. "The mission requested is that someone—in this case, you—protect his betrothed until the wedding ceremony."

"Why a Junnin?" Kiba asked, non-plussed. This was beginning to sound like a very tedious, boring assignment for Genin's, not a Junnin.

"Because of the significance the future Emperor's fiancé holds," Tsunade stressed, looking uncharacteristically serious. Kiba waited a beat. She didn't continue.

"Which is?" he prompted. Tsunade sighed.

"Jin, the future Emperor, and his future wife, whom I have been asked not to refer to by name, have been betrothed since birth," Tsunade explained. "They are both from families that have been wedding for centuries, and Jin's fiancé is currently the only female in her family, besides her mother. If something were to happen to her, or worse, if she died, the results would be disastrous."

Kiba shook his head. "I don't understand you."

Tsunade sighed again, rubbing her temples. "There are three royal families in the Wave Country. The Muyazaki's, the Hikaru's, and the Chori's. Jin comes from the royal clan of Hikaru, and his fiancé from the Muyazaki family. Those two families together, one from each clan, have always ruled the Wave Country. Why the tradition is so important, I'll never know. But I do know that if the tradition is broken, war will break out. The Chori family has never held power, and has to this day feuded with the Muyazaki's and Hikaru's; assassinating future leaders, destroying important documents, kidnapping potential important politicians, ect."

Kiba was perplexed. "I'm afraid I still don't understand."

Tsunade resisted the impulse to roll her eyes. "What you have to understand is, Jin's fiancé, the Muyazaki, has to marry him.If she is killed, there will be no one else for Jin to marry, thus making him ineligible to assume the throne. And since the only remaining family would be the Chori's, who have never held power, they would obviously seize the chance to rule." She paused to confirm Kiba followed. He nodded reluctantly.

"And, just as obviously, because the Chori's were never rulers, the Muyazaki's and Hikaru's would resist most bitterly. They, and possibly other parties, would more than likely start a war over the throne."

Kiba blinked again. "It sounds as though everything is riding on this Muyazaki girl."

Tsunade nodded, relieve that he was getting the gist of this. "Yes."

"So, all I have to do is protect some Wave chick until she gets married? How hard could that be?" Kiba asked, bemused. Tsunade gazed sternly up at him.

"You mustn't take that view, Kiba. That is exactly the attitude that got the last future Emperor assassinated. Plus, it's going to be harder than you think. Do you know how long it takes to plan a wedding?"

Kiba thought for a moment. "Well, it can't take longer than a few weeks, can it?"

Tsunade threw up her hands at his ignorance. "A normal, non-royal couple's wedding takes close to a year to prepare! This will probably take even longer, since they will have to plan the ceremony in a safe, isolated place that fits the desire of both the fiancé and the Emperor."

Kiba stared at her, incredulous. "How hard is it to grab a Pastor and exchange a few vows??!?!? I could be married by sundown if I wanted to!"

Tsunade shook her head in defeat. "You're simply going to have to commit to this, Kiba. No way around it."

Kiba thought it over. The mission was to protect some future ruler's fiancé until her wedding day. Only snag was, she was from one of the two families that had ruled for centuries, and there was a third clan intent on killing her. If she wasn't protected, war would break out in the Wave country…. This still didn't sound like an A rank mission.

"I still don't see why you need a Junnin for this," Kiba said finally, sounding dubious. Tsunade pursed her lips.

"The Chori's are desperate to obtain the throne. They will do anything to get. They have been known in the past to hire highly trained shinobi, often teams, to carry out their dirty work. It is essential that an adequate ninja protect Jin's fiancé."

Kiba sighed. "Alright. Say I'll do this. The time frame we're looking at here is a year, right?"

"Yes."

Kiba exchanged a look with Akamaru, who barked excitedly.

"Okay, we'll take the mission."

Tsunade looked pained. "There's one more thing I didn't mention."

Kiba looked at her suspiciously. "Which is?"

"If you fail, the Emperor and his family will have your head."

Kiba was shocked. "Can they do that?!"

"I'm afraid so," Tsunade replied gravely. "They're seat in power depends on you and Akamaru. If the girl is killed on your watch, the Emperor will blame you. And since you agreed to do this mission in a foreign country, I have no jurisdiction. I can't protect you."

"I'll still do it," Kiba said at once. He was not afraid of failure.

"So be it," Tsunade said. She handed him another piece of blue parchment. "Here's everything you need to know about the landscape and architecture…"