Chapter 11: An Unexpected Mission

Once again it was April. A year had passed since that fateful day that a certain hyperactive ninja put certain events in motion and it was three months after the grueling jonin exams. Team 7 and Team 8 had barely passed by the skin of their teeth but the fact was they did pass. They were now in the same rank as their former sensei but still had a long way to go to reach their level of talent. They were getting A-rank rank missions left and right, much to the relief of one of them who was expecting his first child in a few months. The ones whose specialty was surveillance were often sent on solo missions to gather information. Others were often sent out in two or three-man cells to complete missions where they were more likely to engage the enemy. The pay was good and their skills were in high demand. Unfortunately the friends often didn't get to see much of each other since they were often grouped with other more experienced jonin. They were very much surprised when all eight of them were summoned to the Godaime's office. For all of them to be sent on a mission together it must be very important. The members of both teams greeted each other at the base of the Hokage's Tower. Naruto, being his usual impatient self, started digging for information from Kakashi as they made their way up the spiral staircase.

"You got any idea what this is all about, Kakashi?"

"I haven't got a clue. I know just as much as you, which is nothing."

"Well, for the Godaime to call on all of us the mission must be pretty dangerous." Kakashi simply tilted his head and gave his famous 'we shall see' shrug. Their walk Tsunade's office was pretty much quiet except for a certain Uchiha talking on his cell phone. After he hung up Kurenai questioned him about it.

"So, any news yet?"

"No, not yet. I won't know anything until after her doctor's appointment."

"All right, just remind her to call me later today."

The pair ended their cryptic conversation as the group entered the Hokage's office. They all noticed that Tsunade was wide awake and in a pretty good mood, which made them even more curious about their mission.

"Good morning everyone! I'm so glad you all could make it," the blonde woman greeted with a pleasant smile. "Well, since everyone is here we might as well get down to business. I'm sending all of you on a special mission. It's B-rank..."

"B-rank? Tsunade-baa-chan, are you trying to insult us?" came Naruto's expected outburst causing the legendary kunoichi to sigh in annoyance.

"You wouldn't be insulted if you knew you were being paid in advance and the level of pay is five times that of a usual B-rank mission." That's when everyone's faces lit up.

"Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack. Now shut up and let me tell you about your mission. As I was saying , you'll be going on a B-rank mission to Wave Country for a very special client. All eight of you will be providing security for this client. All of your hotel expenses will be covered and as I said before, you'll receive part of your payment in advance."

"Wow, that sounds like a sweet deal!" Kiba commented. "So who is this client we'll be working for?"

"Why me, of course!" came a voice from the shadows. Both shinobi teams turned to see a beautiful dark haired woman smiling sweetly at them.

"Megumi-san! We're going to be working for you? Awesome!" Naruto cheered. The rest of them were pretty excited themselves.

"That's right! I decided to hire all of you to be my security team while touring Wave Country. I just had to go with the best of the best. And besides, I couldn't stand to be away from Kakashi-kun too long, especially with our anniversary coming up," Megumi explained as she hugged her man close and kissed him on the cheek. That got the younger jonin hooting and teasing the Copy Ninja.

"All right, that's enough teasing. We're all adults here after all," Tsunade admonished. "Now come and pick up your advanced payment and mission details." It was decided that they all would meet at Megumi's house later that day to work out any arrangements before they left for Wave Country two days later. After the two teams left the Hokage's office a tall, wild haired man slipped into the window.

"That Kakashi is one lucky bastard to have a woman like that," Jiraiya mused aloud.

"Yeah, she's a total sweetie. Makes me wonder why he's dragging his feet to get married to her."

"Why do you women always want to drag the issue of marriage into the mix? Can't they just be happy remaining as they are?" the other senin grumbled.

"Well if that's how you feel why the hell did you bother marrying me?" Tsunade asked with an icy glare.

"Because you would have beaten me to a steaming pulp if I hadn't." For that comment Tsunade beaned her husband in the head with one of her ink wells.

"By the way, where are Ami and Hitome?"

"Huh? Why are you asking me?"

"Because you were supposed to pick them up from daycare, baka!"

"Oh...so I was. I must have forgotten," Jiraiya responded with a matter of fact attitude causing his wife to shake her fist at him while threatening bodily harm. Just then there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" the Hokage snapped.

"It's me, Shizune. I brought Hitome-chan and Ami-chan." The Hokage's assistant opened the door to push in a stroller with a two year old boy and one year old girl seated within. Seeing her children safe and sound calmed Tsunade down considerably.

"Jiraiya, you'd better thank Shizune for saving your ass because you were so close to getting a serious ass whooping." Jiraiya gulped as he picked up his sleeping daughter, Ami, to give her a kiss. Their two year old son was very happy to see his mama and papa. Meanwhile, Shizune offered to help file any paperwork for the Hokage. Tsunade gladly accepted the young med nin's help as her husband shrunk under her glare. "I hope Uchiha makes a better father than you are at the moment." Jiraiya frowned and looked quite hurt by his wife's comment.

"At least nobody is trying to marry him off," the Toad Sage muttered under his breath as he rocked his daughter in his arms.

"What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing, dear. Nothing at all."

Later that day Sasuke met up with a certain purple haired kunoichi in the Uchiha complex. Anko greeted him with a smile as she handed him a large envelope which he opened with much excitement. When he pulled out it's contents he looked over the papers with fascination.

"Amazing. These are actually pictures of our baby, Anko-chan."

"Yup. Our baby girl, to be exact!" Anko chuckled as she patted her baby bump.

"So it's a girl...You wouldn't mind naming her after my mother, would you Anko-chan?"

"You know I wouldn't mind at all. I think that's a great idea."

"Thanks. That's really important to me." He leaned over to give his girlfriend a tender kiss before preparing to head out. "I'm heading to Megumi's for a mission debriefing. Wanna come?"

"You bet! I'm sure Megumi-chan would love the see the sonogram pictures, too."

When the couple arrived at Megumi's home they discovered that an argument had started over the hotel room arrangements for the younger jonin.

"Kakashi, it's not fair that Hinata and I can't share a room!" Naruto hollered.

"I feel the same about me and Sakura," Shino interjected in a much calmer tone although he was just as upset as Naruto.

"Look, you guys. Kurenai promised Hinata's father that she would be assigned the same room with another female while on away missions."

"But why? We're adults so we should be able to share a room with whomever we want!" Naruto protested.

"Actually, Hinata is still underage, so this policy still stands until she turns eighteen later on this year.

"But I'm already eighteen, so why should I get the short end of the stick?" Sakura grumbled. "I mean Hinata could hare a room with Kurenai, right?" Kurenai gave Sakura a look telling her that wasn't an option. She valued her privacy way too much. On top of that everyone agreed that it would be best if Naruto wasn't left to his own devices in a foreign hotel. And Naruto definitely didn't want Hinata staying in a room with Sasuke or Kiba. Everyone also assumed Kakashi would be sharing a room with Megumi. Tempers were flaring and things were about to get out of hand so Kakashi decided to put an end to the debate.

"Look, I'm the leader of this mission and I say the original arrangement still stands. This discussion is closed. Now onto the next issue at hand. The itinerary and concert hall layouts." The seasoned jonin could tell the loudmouth blonde was about to continue the argument so Kakashi warned him to keep his mouth shut. Neither of the two couples involved in the debate were happy with results so after the meeting they gathered separately to come up with a plan to get around the arrangements. To their surprise Hinata was the one to devise a feasible plan that wouldn't raise much suspicion. All four of them agreed to go along with her plan.

"Hinata, you are so smart I could just kiss you!" Naruto did just that as he imagined sharing a hotel room with his beloved. "Guys, I think this is going to be the best mission ever!" They all knew any mission involving an Uzumaki was bound to be exciting. In addition to that this mission had great potential to be a whole lot of fun. Naruto was determined to make sure of that.