Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto. Enough said.
Chapter 2;
Beginning
A few minutes after leaving Tsunades office, Hatake Kakashi was walking down one of Konohas many streets towards the Haruno household to pick up Sakura. As usual he was in no hurry and had already bumped into several people as he couldn't see where he was going through his latest perverted book. Though it was no Come Come Paradise, he would have to make do with it until the next volume of his long time favorite appeared.
After Sasuke abandoned Konoha and Naruto left with Jiraiya, only Sakura was remaining of the three members of his old team. He hadn't seen the two of them at all, nor had anyone else, and he only saw Sakura once in a while as she had been receiving personal training from the Hokage herself. Though he didn't show it he missed the old days, but had still quickly decided that he enjoyed the extra free time that had come with the disbanding of the team. So he had decided not to take on a new team of Genin and had gone back to taking on standard Jounin missions. He was going to enjoy going on a mission with them again though, maybe just this one last time.
He put the book in the pouch at his side as he approached Sakuras house, walked up to the door, and knocked. He waited on the doorstep for a moment before he heard some movement inside. A moment later the door opened and he saw Sakura standing just inside the doorway. He raised his hand as a wave and gave his usual smile. "Yo."
"Kakashi-sensei?" She asked with a puzzled look on her face.
"Tsunade-sama sent me. Get your stuff...we're going to find Naruto."
Somewhere on the other side of Konoha, Gai was much more openly enthusiastic about this new mission as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop in search of his old students. He knew exactly where to find Neji, but he planned to save him for last as he would most definitely be the most difficult to deal with. He had a good idea of where he could find his favorite student, whom he actually thought of more as a son than anything else.
Finally he jumped to the ground as the line of buildings came to an end and he headed into the forest, towards the place Lee had been training even back during his academy days. He moved through the trees crushing a few dead branches beneath his feet as he walked. Finally he came to a small clearing to find Lee on the ground doing single handed push-ups. He didn't even notice Gai as he said "Five hundred forty six...", counting off his push-ups.
Lee had been promoted to a Chuunin about a year ago, after his third attempt at the Chuunin Exam. He had hardly changed at all over the past two years, he was simply a taller version of his past self. At five hundred sixty push-ups, Lee finally stopped as he noticed Gai standing over him. He jumped up onto his feet excitedly. "Gai-sensei!"
Gai gave his Lee his old thumbs up pose along with a disturbingly large smile. "Tsunade-sama has given us a new assignment for the old team!"
Lees eyes lit up more and more as Gai explained the mission to him, but the best part of it all in his opinion was teaming up with Gai-sensei, Tenten, and Neji again. As soon as Gais explanation was complete the two of them set out to find Tenten, which proved to be even simpler than they had expected. Like Lee, she had been promoted to Chuunin on her third try and hadn't been given any missions recently and was had just been sitting around at home bored. She was almost as eager to take on the assignment as Lee had been and the growing team headed off once again towards the Hyuuga manor.
The two of them entered the large backyard to find Neji training by himself. His back was to them but through the help of the Byakugan he knew they were there immediatly. But instead of greeting them nicely, something anyone aside from Neji would have done, he chose to ignore them entirely in hope that they'd take the hint and go away. At almost the exact instant that thought passed through his mind, he heard Lee call out "Neji-kun!" in the hyperactive tone that Neji had always found incredibly annoying.
"Lee...take a hint?...I guess I should've known better..." He thought as he paused his training and turned around to face them.
"Now isn't a good time. I'm busy." He stated with the same 'get off my property before someone gets injured' expression and tone of voice he always used when someone came to visit him.
Tenten sighed heavily. She'd been expecting this even if the other two hadn't. "That's exactly what you always say...everytime one of us even gets near you."
For a brief period after their first attempt at the Chuunin Exam, Neji had actually become a nice person to be around. A very brief period. Unlike his teammates, he had passed the second time they took it. After he was no longer a part of the Genin team he decided he had no reason to hang around with them and had become gradually more distant. Then around the same time Lee and Tenten became Chuunins, Neji was promoted again to Jounin status. The very instant he received the Jounin promotion his superiority complex returned in its entirety.
"It's not a social call this time Neji," Gai explained to him, "The four of us have been ordered to leave for the Earth Country immediately.
-
Somewhere near the Hidden Stone Village, the red haired boy who had killed the four Stone shinobi stepped downward into the lower level of the ship he had come to the Earth Country aboard. He walked to the end of a very small hallway, where a guard was stationed on either side of the doorway at the end. He stood there silently staring at the door, keeping several feet back from it while he waited. The guard on his right nodded to him as he arrived. "Homaru-sama. Yukio-sama will see you now." He stated.
The red haired boy, now identified as Homaru, stepped forward and pushed the door open without a glance at either of the guards. He stepped into a decently sized room considering the fact that he was on a ship. It was well lit by several candles scattered at good points throughout it. On each side of the room stood three guards, six in total, all standing up against the wall. At the far end of the room a man of about forty sat in what appeared to be a throne. "So Homaru...what have you learned?"
"When we set out in the rowboat several hours ago we were met by four warriors, though they were easily disposed of. I sent Nobu and Mina out as scouts and they returned with news of a large village with equally weak warriors. Unfortunately an exceptionally strong one referring to himself as 'The Tsuchikage' managed to drive them back. They predict that he would have been no match for you or any of your elites however." He said in a passive tone.
Yukio began chuckling lightly to himself as he listened to the report. "I see, so this is it. We have finally found where the traitors fled to..."
"Yes, it appears we finally have." Homaru responded with a smirk.
"Very well, you have performed perfectly Homaru. The other ships should be arriving within the next forty-eight hours. If things go smoothly we should have the relics and be ready to head for home by the end of the week. You are dismissed."
Homaru nodded and silently let himself out of the room.
