"Anko."

Perched partway up a tree, Mitarashi Anko tilted her head back to see an upside-down version of her teacher staring up at her. She was practicing the standard for young genin: honing her chakra control by tree climbing. "Yes, Sensei?"

"Come down. You are going to accompany me on a mission." Anko, whose concentration had already been lapsing, slipped and began to fall headfirst towards the ground. Orochimaru's hands shot out to grab her waist. He flipped her upright, slowed her fall, and set her down on her feet.

"Really?" blurted Anko eagerly. "I get to come with you? On a mission?"

"Come," Orochimaru said in answer. He went toward one of the village entrances and beckoned her to follow him. "We're meeting the rest of our team in front of the Ember Gate." When they got closer, Anko could see a man with long white hair. There were two boys and a girl with him.

"Orochimaru!" the man called a greeting, and waved. His eyebrows went way up when he saw Anko. "You have an apprentice now? And she's a girl?" A blonde beauty walked up to them then, and the man's attention was immediately diverted. "Tsunade, you're a sight for sore eyes."

"Reign yourself in, Jiraiya," Tsunade sighed. "We're going to be in each other's company for the next week or so as it is." She wrinkled her nose, apparently not keen on the idea.

"So, while I'm leading a standard cell, both you and Orochimaru took on individual students," observed Jiraiya. "Are both of you still trying to make me look bad?" Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"You know a medic ninja can only take on one student at a time," she reminded him grumpily.

"I'm simply not brave enough to teach three brats at once," was Orochimaru's reply. Jiraiya's cell didn't seem to take offense at the insinuation. The boy with golden hair and startlingly blue eyes waved like his master had.

"Well, I guess we should introduce ourselves," he said. "I'm Namikaze Minato." His kunoichi teammate said cheerfully,

"And my name is Ikeda Kazuko."

"Ogawa Ryoji," mumbled the boy with close-cropped hair next to her. Anko spoke up next.

"I'm Mitarashi Anko," she introduced herself. They all turned towards the last girl, Tsunade's apprentice, who murmured shyly,

"My name is Shizune." She bowed to them, and Minato rounded out the introductions when he said,

"We already know who you are, of course, Lady Tsunade, Master Orochimaru. Jiraiya-sensei's told us all about you."

"What did he say?" Tsunade asked rather warily. Anko wished she knew everyone's name already like Minato and his friends, but she had only been with Orochimaru for a few days, and her new sensei didn't speak much.

"How beautiful you are, of course," the man called Jiraiya suavely answered his teammate's question. "Anyway—the mission. We're heading for Cloud, and our objective is intelligence-gathering. C'mon, let's head out so we can make some time before the sun goes down." As they began running, with the masters taking the lead and the students trailing behind, Kazuko asked her,

"Is this your first mission?"

"Yeah," Anko admitted. Minato smiled and nodded in understanding.

"Are you nervous?" Kazuko wanted to know.

"No!" Anko insisted, shaking her head hard. Nervous energy was bouncing around inside her, making her want to speed far beyond the team's moderate jog and sprint the whole way to Kumo. But she was not nervous.