Chapter 2: Teamwork

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

― Napoléon Bonaparte

Midnight, March 20th

Kakashi and Naoko fell back while their three pupils stumbled out on the soil of Earth for the very first time. The sun had already set so they couldn't see Konoha's lands in all its glorious green desolation, accompanied by a romantic sunset, but they got to see something much better. Everything was eerily still in the black forest all around them, but that calm wasn't as morbid as it seemed at first glance for the evening revealed a silvery moon above them.

Naruto was the first that had the idea to look up and in his surprise exclaimed, "The white moon!" His gloved hand was pointing at the illuminating orb hanging in a sea of stars. Nothing could compare to the beauty of the galaxy, not even all the gems of the world.

The moon on Eden was a strange hue of light purple; it looked like a giant bubble-gum that threatened to crash into the planet. Anyone born after the Disaster knew nothing but the purple moon, only the last Disaster survivors were left to complain about it.

Naoko didn't really mind their complaints as she realised long ago that they weren't being spiteful for the fun of it, but they missed home. Eden was foreign to them and it wasn't the place where they grew up, even the sky was unfamiliar to them with none of the known constellations above their heads.

One good thing about inhabiting another planet – all of the light pollution on Earth that veiled the stars was gone. Once again the sky was lit up by millions of stars instead of light emitted by the five kingdoms.

They were situated away from the major cities. Their task set them near Konoha's borders, but Kakashi had suggested taking the recruits to the capital later. 'Might as well educate them a bit while we're here', was his reasoning. Show them a bit of the most famous landmarks and perhaps give them a short history lecture, though Naoko suspected that the soldier was just postponing their return to Eden.

She removed her eyes from the trio and turned to Kakashi instead with a bout of nostalgia flaring up in her chest.

"Remember when we were like that?" asked Naoko, grinning at her students. Even Sasuke, whose face had the emotional range of a fork, displayed some outward signs of curiosity. They touched everything, the tree trunks, leaves and even the soil, wishing to take samples and pictures of everything. They acted like tourists, not soldiers, but their two superiors made no move to put a stop to the display.

On moments like this Naoko truly felt the urge to screw all safety precautions and remove her anti-radiation gear, to really feel what the air here smells like. The older folks always complained about the man-made air of Eden, but what did real air smell like? Naoko made a note to come back to Earth when she was nearing death and spend her final days in the original Konohagakure, with no protective gear to dull her sensations. Her pondering was interrupted when Kakashi turned his face away from her.

"Perhaps you were like that, I was quite stoic."

Naoko stepped in front of Kakashi, hands on her hips with a large grin when realisation dawned upon her, "You feel a sense of kinship with the Uchiha…are you hoping that he will also outgrow this?" She questioned cheekily, "I was wondering why you took such interest in his personal life."

The smile died on her lips when she caught sight of Kakashi's expression. This was the first time in their two years of working together that she had seen him truly display something that could be only described as sadness. He was staring something else up in the sky and it seemed like his mind was somewhere far-far away.

"Kakashi?" she asked carefully, her hand reaching out to touch his shoulder, but she recoiled at the very last moment.

"Do you think we'll ever live on this planet again?" questioned the soldier, eyes still fixated on something Naoko couldn't see.

Part of her wanted to hug the man, but the suits made movement awkward enough and the students were still present. This wasn't the time to deal with personal matters and Naoko prayed that her fellow instructor would be professional enough to put those feelings aside for now.

"We'll talk about it later, okay?" she assured him and instead of a hug provided him with an awkward pat on the shoulder. Naoko wasn't entirely sure how to deal with him in this situation, so she did what any reasonable adult did – elected to ignore the situation for as long as possible.

Kakashi was already quite tight lipped when it came to personal matters, no point in pushing it here of all places, but Naoko wasn't going to let this slide. She will pry and find out what is bothering this man who is always so carefree.

She shook off the worries and conjured a big smile to display to the students, before waving them over.

"Congratulations, it seems like none of you managed to break their protective suits." She announced to them when they had finally managed to stumble to her, unused to the weight and feel of the anti-radiation suits.

"Now, you all brought your radars I hope?" she continued, "The location of our target is displayed there, your first task is to find it and I repeat do not get killed. Just because this is a wasteland doesn't mean that there are no dangers lurking here." Her warning rung clear in the trio's ears and they were twitching with eagerness to act.

Naoko looked over to Kakashi and he voiced his own instructions, completely unfazed by his earlier display. "Be mindful about how far into the forest you're going. We're close to Kirigakure's borders, under no circumstances are you allowed to cross them."

"Do they really still keep watch?" asked Sakura doubtfully, glancing around her, supressing a shudder. She was clearly excited about visiting Earth, but feeling extremely uncomfortable, surrounded by the black woods that looked anything but welcoming. The silence often drove people mad…in reality Earth was anything but the picture perfect wonderland that the old photos displayed.

The redhead took a sharp step forward, alerted by Sakura's doubts, "They do! I don't care if that bomb is two inches over their border, you do not touch it nor move it if even a speck of it is on Kirigakure's territory. I doubt any of you wish to be responsible for starting a war." She warned, her tone harsh and strict. That got the rookies on edge, as Naoko wasn't usually this resolute.

It was common knowledge that the current Mizukage was touchy about territorial integrity, to put it lightly. Naoko didn't even want to think about the commotion it would cause if three rookies crossed the borders of Kirigakure. Well, firstly she would have to deal with the Hokage…And if there was anything left of her she would gladly assign the trio ten years of community service. That might be enough for them to realise the errors of their ways.

"Are we clear?" she asked them, her tone much gentler.

The trio nodded and turned around, fumbling with their holo-maps before each set off on their own.

Kakashi and Naoko stood there for a few minutes in silence, watching the rookies being swallowed up by the darkness of the woods. Kakashi got out his own holo-map that displayed three dots representing their pupils. He observed their movements while Naoko climbed up a tree for the lack of anything better to do. The next time Kakashi spared a glance he found Naoko hanging upside down, her expression betraying boredom. The soldier made no comments about her peculiar location and presented his evaluation instead.

"They are not even making an effort to work together. They have the same destination, but instead they try to compete." He sounded disappointed already, and the rookies had only left scant five minutes ago.

Naoko shrugged, very strange motion to carry out while upside down, and made a strange twist in the air in an attempt to land on her feat instead of her head. The woman grunted as her feet hit the ground clumsily and straightened up. "Because teamwork is something they expect us to drill into their skulls. The academy merely pitches them against each other." She remarked snidely.

Kakashi chuckled, but it was cut short when his ears caught the sound of an engine. This was not one of Konoha's shuttles, they both realised and the years of military training kicked in. A sense of dread was threatening to fill Naoko to the brim and her head whipped first to the dark void ahead of her and back to Kakashi's holo-map.

Had they crossed the border? Had those three stupid rookies stumbled upon the bloody border? Was that small taste of responsibility really too much to handle? But her anger and judgement had to be put on hold for the time being. A shooting match with Kirigakure was something to avoid at all cost and took priority.

Instead they got an incoming radio signal from the ship. "Leaf seven, do you copy?"

Naoko was first to respond to the message. "This is leaf seven here, over." She replied quickly, holding her breath in anticipation as she was waiting for a response.

"There's an unidentified vessel heading your way, get those rookies away from the border in case it is a Kirigakure patrol, over."

The small nuance of words didn't escape Kakashi who broke into a run with Naoko trailing close behind him, trying to dodge all of the mutated tree roots sticking out of the ground in odd angles. They could hear it more clearly now, it landed not far from their own location and the duo picked up the pace.

"In case? You mean to say that you don't know?" Naoko was fighting the urge to scream into the receiver and held back the urge to shout profanities at the wind. Unidentified was even worse than Kirigakure. The latter could be, to some extent, reasoned with.

"It's probably nothing, just go make sure the brats don't overstep the boundaries, over." Their operator's assurance did little to qualm Naoko's fears. Kakashi on the other hand was the face of focus. He was entirely focused on the task ahead and nothing else mattered.

Naoko swallowed the urge to groan audibly, "We are part of the Intelligence branch! It's our job to know those things!" she snapped, clearly irritated by this gap of information.

"Shows you the extent of our influence." Kakashi threw back the response dryly, no doubt as pissed off as Naoko was.

It was Naruto's shouting that helped the tutors position them with relative ease. For a brief moment Naoko was overwhelmed with panic, until she realised that the yelling was directed at Sasuke and not a desperate cry for help.

The pair burst through the trees to find the two teenagers arguing over the ancient rustic bomb, right there in the middle of the field with Sakura standing away from the two at a safe distance. In any other situation Naoko would've chucked a slipper at the boys before smacking both of them over the head.

An entire clearing to argue, but they have to do it directly above the bomb! That's exactly why children should be kept far away from the military, until they are ready. The boys broke off their argument with some regret, choosing to ignore each other instead.

Silence ensued when the team heard the sound of an approaching ground squad. Judging by the sound, they were still far. They had just a small window to hatch a plan.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed and with one smooth movement he got out a loaded pistol, "Sasuke, Naruto, get away from the explosive right now." His voice was enough to chill the air. When the teenagers caught sight of the brandished gun all cries of disobedience died in their throats. They rushed back and took a protective stance in front of Sakura, shielding her from whatever was coming through those woods. Naruto tried to reassure her that this was probably just a training exercise developed by the military to test them.

This day just kept getting worse and worse, thought Naoko desperately, this was supposed to be a routine visit with the rookies!

Naoko edged next to Kakashi, loading her own pistol, "Kakashi, we're not on Kirigakure's territory, it's a quarter a mile away from us," she whispered, "They wouldn't outright fly onto our territory as well." This wasn't the time to panic and Naoko had finally gained control over her emotions. Two years of active duty had taught the redhead that panic and fear were a soldier's worst enemy – it would only lead to ill made decisions and ultimately failure.

"A group of four, maybe five," noted Kakashi, "Most likely armed…It can't be our own forces. We were the only team sent here." His voice was monotonous, almost melodic enough to put some ease to Naoko's heart that pounded in her chest.

The woman bit her lip and cast a look over her shoulder, "Kakashi, we can't protect them if this turns into a real fight." And if she knew anything about Naruto, then he would try to help in any way possible. Naoko wasn't about to have them die under her command as children. They had no place in a real battle.

He nodded grimly, "Agreed, send them back now. Izumo will pick them up ASAP."

Kakashi contacted Izumo over the radio, providing him with the coordinates while forwarding them to the holo-maps of the students. Naoko ran over to the trio, "Alright, Kakashi just forwarded your next destination. Get there as quickly as you can, and work together. Izumo will be there to meet you."

Naruto was the first to protest, "No way! I am not running away from a fight." The exclamation earned him a glare from Sasuke and Naoko alike.

Sakura was absolutely terrified, and the prospect of getting as far away from this sight was beyond appealing. Never before had the pink haired girl seen their instructors in such a state. Naoko took notice that Sasuke had his fingers clenched around a knife. He was alarmed, that much was clear, but managed to keep his cool and was the only one that had the wits to bring a weapon.

She sighed and turned back to Naruto, "Recruit Uzumaki, you will work together with your teammates and get the hell out of here. This team approaching is real, and the more time you waste here the slimmer your chances of survival get. Now move! I trust you."

Three very simple words, uttered gently as a sibling might, but they were enough to change Naruto's resolve and shift it to something more profitable.

He grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her along with him, making sure that Sasuke was keeping up. Not that there was any need, the Uchiha was a force of his own. Naoko watched them disappear, feeling as if a rock was lifted from her heart. They would be long gone before the ground team could break to the measly defence that Kakashi and Naoko could provide.

Kakashi fell back to her side, his gun raised in anticipation.

"Well, there's one good thing about this situation." His voice had returned to his usual lightness, even managing to sound amused.

Naoko couldn't help but to laugh, "Teamwork?" She offered helpfully.

"There's no cover on this field, climb," Kakashi ordered sharply, putting an end to their waste of time. Naoko obeyed without second thought, trying to get under the cover of the leaves with the radiation suit – it was made from a stiff material and it was incredibly bulky.

In simpler terms - the worst garment a soldier could wear during a gunfight.

Any idiot who bothered to look up could see her clinging to the branch like an oversized panda. Hopefully the darkness would be enough to cover the both of them from unfriendly eyes.

She heard Kakashi make an ascent to a neighbouring tree. The ruckus they made must've been heard from miles away. If the, the word felt sour at the tip of Naoko's tongue, enemy was unaware of their presence before, then they had that luxury no more.

Naoko forced her breathing to calm down and she kept her pistol aimed, keeping her finger away from the trigger. If this was a team from the five kingdoms, then their clothes would carry a crest. She was uttering a silent prayer to the cosmos, hoping that it would be a group of friendlies entering the field.

No such prayers were answered. It would be settled with bullets again. Her heart was close to leaping out of her chest by the time the team entered their field of sight.

Kakashi wasn't wrong about their numbers. Four men entered the clearing, clad in black with machine guns clutched in their hands. Only one of them was carrying a briefcase. They wore no identification and in the dark with only the moonlight to offer illumination, it was near impossible to see them.

Take the shot, or not?

If she missed, then it would be certain death. Hopefully Izumo got the rookies away from this…

She had not time to analyse the explosive, would it even work anymore? The variable of the situation were like a flurry of jumbled thoughts in her head.

Naoko released the breath she was holding and steadied her hand. The man with the briefcase headed straight to the bomb while the other three formed a protective circle around him. Panic filled her when she realised what the group was trying to do.

I should've taken the shot. I miscalculated.

It wasn't her life that she was afraid for, it was a war. If they died here, who could truly prove that this wasn't Konoha trying to provoke Kirigakure? The situation could easily be misinterpreted – that the team was sent on Earth to deliver the explosive to Kirigakure territory. Just who would believe the word of three rookies and a shuttle pilot? Would Tsunade's assurances be enough to qualm doubts?

She aimed to take out the human shield closest to her. This would be enough to provide Kakashi with a clear trajectory, but…There was a chance of shooting the bomb by accident. It was so darn dark as well and skills were not of use anymore. It was luck she needed instead, luck for her aim to remain true.

There was no time to hesitate. Eden's future was resting on her shoulders. Naoko held back a laugh, so melodramatic, but it helped her focus.

The redhead was fairly certain that the loudness of firearms is something she will never grow accustomed to. The bullet hit its target right in the chest, a lucky shot indeed, considering the fact that she was aiming for the man's head. No matter, he fell to the ground, dead.

The situation was resolved only in a matter of seconds, but it felt like an eternity for Naoko. She took another shot, taking out the second bodyguard and Kakashi took the daring shot, aiming to take out the planter, but the silver haired man was a mere heartbeat too late.

Naoko didn't remember hearing the explosion itself. It was sort of drowned out by everything else surrounding them. Or maybe she did, and just confused it with another gunshot?

She didn't see Kakashi anywhere, eyes frantically darting around, but that was perhaps because she was still hanging in the air, thrown back by the force of the explosion.

When she felt a large batch of splinters tear through her skin Naoko only thought about their hiding place. What a shitty choice, a stupid, primitive, miscalculation. She made a mental note to yell on Kakashi about it later. Maybe she could even blackmail a beer from him. Both of them knew better than to hide above, in a tree of all places.

Kakashi was one of the best shooters she had ever met, there was no doubt that the anonymous man just managed to detonate the bomb a moment before his death. Kakashi had at least taken away the terrorist's moment to bask in his handiwork.

This wasn't a suicide bombing.

She had to remember this detail, it rang in her mind over and over again – this wasn't a suicide bombing.

The kids got away, right?

A bit short, but I promise the next one will be longer!

Hope you enjoyed this one :)

Lilyholics