Ch 2

"You wanted to see me, Hokage?"

"Over two hours ago, yes!" She gave the lazy shinobi an appraising glance, trying to figure out merely by looking at him if his mission would be a success. For all the sake it was driving her to drink, it had better be.

"Sit down, Kakashi. You have been assigned a mission by the council that goes beyond rating status."

A second of interest was all she could see before the bored expression was back in his eye. Tsunade could not help but sigh. Once she opened her mouth, there was no turning back.

"There is a mission you will go on that will take you off-continent." One more sigh couldn't hurt, she thought.

"Kakashi, what I am about to tell you is a secret known to every Hokage and senior council member in history, and you will be the third in history to know about it beyond that. What you know of our world is actually wrong. While you were taught to believe that our continent is the only one on the planet, there are actually 8. The other seven know of each other, but do not know of us. Three hundred years ago, it became apparent that the rest of the world was declining. The concept of morality and honor were being lost at an alarming rate, and the Hokages back then decided to cut off all contact with the outside continents. While they have grown technologically, their cultures have become base, influenced only by greed and sin. The council has decided that it is time to assess the condition of the other continents by bringing someone here." She paused a moment to judge his reaction so far, but he was careful not to give anything away.

"Regardless of my approval of their methods, it has been the policy of every council in the past to bring someone here every hundred years or so. This person is selected by the government we have the primary 'relationship' with, as it is the most powerful. You will be given a file on your target, and a crash course in their culture. You will have an escort at all times, except for when you are doing reconnaissance and the actual acquiring of the target. Please, remember that there is a reason our entire continent has chosen to keep its' solitude, and limit your exposure to their culture as much as possible. Get in, get the target, get out, and forget what you see. It is obviously impossible to completely forget, and that is why you will immediately after undergo a voluntary memory genjutsu. You will remember that you willingly gave up the exact details of their culture, and you will remember everything about the mission pertaining to the target. It has been found that this makes it easier for the mind to accept the background details that it can no longer remember. I know you are a private person, Kakashi, but nothing will be erased, the technique is only designed to make certain memories muddled and indistinct. The other two shinobi who went this mission reported no ill effects of the genjutsu.

You will have one week to prepare, and another week to make it to our border and out to sea to your pickup point. There is special equipment you will be taught to use for navigation, and it is imperative that you return that equipment in working order. Do you have any questions?"

"This target is merely for the council to gauge the status of the outside world?"

"Yes. It is something that has only been trusted to the most honorable and skilled shinobi, and while there will never be any acknowledgement of this mission, know that there was no one else ever considered for a mission of this importance. Here is the file and related materials, I'll see you for debriefing when you get back."

Kakashi accepted the small pile of scrolls and had made it to the door before she called out to him one last time.

"Kakashi? One piece of advice? While the target is not a threat to our security and is a civilian, she has taken lives in the name of self-preservation. Do not treat her as a ninja, but do not underestimate her, either. She has to be brought back intact and in good health. The rest is up to your discretion."

He gave a short nod before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Not trusting any of his hiding spots around the village to give him the privacy he needed, as Naruto had become increasingly able to find him when he really wanted to, his apartment was the only place he had left. Making sure all his windows and doors were locked, he pulled the blinds in his bedroom window before opening the first scroll. It was the file on his target. Intensely curious as to whom he was, he devoured the information.

Mission rating: N/A

Target: Kristen Pierce

Action required: Acquirement

Mission notes: Full history has been disclosed due to foreign location of target. Target will be handed over to the council with no more than minor damage for information extraction. (Kakashi winced at the wording, knowing Ibiki would more than likely be the one doing the extracting, and Ibiki went no easier on someone just because they were a civilian.) It is imperative that no evidence of shinobi presence is left behind to enable full government deniability. Do not expect immediate contact/acquirement, as target is unpredictable in habits, and edgy due to recent events.

Target history:

Kristen Pierce

Age: 28

Childhood: Born to two adjusted parents. Brother, now deceased, born at age of 5. At age 8, family moved to middle-classed area. Target went to school in school located in an area of two major gang borders, part of minority race. Targeted by one gang shortly after enrollment. 10 to 15 incidents of gang-related violence, during which target refused to participate in drug-trafficking activities. Attempted hit by outside contractor failed when contractor anally raped target and was subsequently killed. Autopsy report revealed larynx had been forcibly removed, finger impressions confirming killer as a child. Two months after the failed hit, target and male best friend/self-appointed bodyguard were captured and tortured. Target had gang leader's name carved into right forearm. Best friend suffered minor injuries. Male best friend disappeared two weeks later and was discovered six months later in a neighboring town's sewer pipe. Target remains ignorant of best friend's status.

Target excelled at school, earning high marks in all subjects except geometry. Moderate knowledge of the Spanish language, shows moderate foreign language aptitude. Target showed aptitude in creative arts, including music, clay building/pottery wheeling, and creative writing. Target capable of speed reading up to 7,000 wpm since high school. Target belonged to no particular social group, and until last year of high school, was a loner. Factors such as being brought up in a minority religion, chronic relocation of family due to father's vocation, and subsequent lacking social skills are main reasons.

Upon graduation, target worked a variety of jobs due to lack of definite vocation goals and relocation. At age of 16, target's first attempt at dating was with a 20-year-old woman, lasting for nearly 8 months. Second woman, aged 19, was subsequently dated for 6 months. Target is determined to be bi-sexual, as she has shown ample appreciation for the male sex. Target moved to another state at 18, and dated a 21-year-old male. This relationship was classified as both emotionally and physically abusive, with extensive, chronic injuries that target was successful in hiding from parents. Relationship lasted until family moved again 16 months later. Parents never knew of the relationship. At age 20, target dated a 29-year-old man, becoming engaged at 27. This relationship appeared to be ideal and fulfilling for target. At age 26, target and boyfriend moved to back portion of his mother's property to care for her. Mother-in-law was 65. Target appeared to be equally devoted to mother-in-law as to natural parents. Mother developed terminal cancer at 66, couple became engaged shortly thereafter to make sure mother saw them married before death.

Mother-in-law died six months past, target's marriage planned for three months from date of report. As the final candidate for Project Wonderland, the target's significant other was disposed of in a supposed robbery. Target was unexpectedly at home and suffered moderate injuries while attempting to protect her fiancée. Two agents suffered minor injuries, one serious. Agents were forced to use significant force to subdue target, resulting in moderate damage. Target is healing rapidly, which should be noted as a consistent quality of target.

Gall bladder removal at age 28, medical records show existence of chakra in target. Target started a physically-demanding job one week after gall bladder removal.

Personality/Miscellaneous notes: Target has knowingly and unknowingly taken numerous personality and IQ tests. IQ test shows target has above average intelligence, excelling in abstract thinking and intuitive skills. Logical thinking is average, and 'common sense'skills are at the lower range of average. This may be due to stunted social growth as a child. Target exhibits superior intuitive skills, which are believed to be chakra-based. Due to target's lack of medical attention since the age of 18, correlating chakra tests were unable to be applied, but her superior healing and strength, and near-perfect perception of strangers are in support of the assessment. Target is an empathic introvert, capable of acquiring knowledge from very little concrete information or knowledge. While socially shy, and more apt to retreat from social situations at the last minute, target is very protective of those she considers friends. Interestingly, target was very sexually liberal with the deceased fiancée, prone to biting/scratching fetishes, and always indulgent to his. Target will not allow anal intercourse, as the few times it was tried, the target had traumatic flashbacks. Target is fond of adult pornography, and owns a few 'toys'.

Target is cynical and realistic, but is prone to whimsical fantasy; she is a writer for self-pleasure only. Her artistic skills are moderate, and she has been rapidly improving over the last 8 years under the guidance of her fiancée, being an artist himself.

Target is physically very active, though not in optimum shape, as she is a smoker. Her vocation is physically demanding, and her daily regimen is adequate. Target was obese through childhood and increasingly so until the age of 25, in part due to a right knee ACL replacement and the malfunction of her gall bladder since puberty, which was unknown until its' removal. It should be noted that though the target believes her disproportionate strength is merely from her father's side of the family, it is chakra-based, though she is a novice at the manipulation of it.

The reason for the existence of chakra in the target has been traced back to the assault as a child, where it is believed that the use of chakra-based strength enabled an 8-year-old female child to rip out the throat of a fully-grown male.

Final notes:

Since the death of her mother-in-law and subsequent removal of the fiancée three months short of their impending marriage, the target has become reclusive and only rarely ventures out. These events are primarily for the purposes of work, errands, and to her local coffee shop, which she walks to every weekend. This coffee shop appears to be her only social interaction, and the customers are all several decades older than her. It should also be noted that not only the coffee shop customers, but her neighbors as well, are all keeping a close eye on her and her property since the death of her fiancée. He, apparently, was active in the local community and was the driving force for the preservation of the local area's history. Over four hundred people attended his funeral.

The target inherited half of the mother-in-law's estate through the fiancée, including the property she has, and is still living on. She continues to live in the back building, which is more sheltered by woods. Upon the disappearance of the target, with the lack of a will, all said inheritance will be bestowed to the state in the absence of named inheritors.

Target's mental health is stable, though her emotional status is unpredictable. Her locations for work rarely follow a set schedule, so the only habit she has formed is her weekends at the coffee shop, which have been happening for over two years. The road to the coffee shop is a main road, and it should not be attempted to acquire her on the weekends, as her presence would be immediately missed and investigated.

If deemed necessary, a more detailed report as to the target's life and significant experiences is enclosed in another report.

Kakashi set down the last report, and for the first time that he could remember in over a decade, he had no idea how to feel about his mission. While it was his own personal policy to be suspicious when it came to any decision made by the council, the whole situation had done nothing but set off warning bells in his mind since his meeting with Tsunade. Reading that the target's – Kristen's – own government had no qualms about killing her fiancée with the added bonus of acquiring her possessions, well, it made him wonder how much his council had to do with the selection process. Surely they wouldn't be all too concerned with who they interrogated as long as she knew enough of her world, right? And knowing what he did about what had already been done to her, how would it speak of him to be a part of it? Yes, it was his responsibility as a shinobi of the Leaf to perform his duties regardless of his personal feelings, but that was according to the rules of his world, not hers. She was simply an innocent victim who had done nothing to ask for what had been done to her, or for what he would do, the council would do. He could only assume, and it made his stomach turn to even think of, that she would simply be disposed of when she had given up all the information she had.

Details of her life spun in his mind, questions arising that he would likely never know the answers to, and as much as those damned bells that were always so dead accurate were clanging that something bad was coming his way, there was no choice. That was exactly why he despised missions based on the prerogative of the council! Whatever the outcome would be, he felt as though it was already written, set in stone, and he was merely waiting to catch up, to find out for himself. The loss of control was anathema to a shinobi, something to be prevented at all costs at the risk of failure of a mission or death. And yet, he had lost it the moment he had set foot in the Hokage's office. He would go, and hope he wouldn't have to carry a truly innocent soul on his already desolate conscience. Kakashi would have to wait and see what lied at the end of the path that others had dictated to him. No matter how much he wanted not to.