2.2 The First C Mission
"A C mission, huh?" the Hokage looked at his scroll. "Kakashi, you think your team is now ready for a C mission?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama. They've been training hard and have worked well together. All the D missions were accomplished efficiently and effectively."
"All right, let's see what we have here. There's a simple surveillance request by a businessman. He's an import-export manager and is away from home a lot. He suspects his wife of having an affair. Hmm, maybe this mission is not age appropriate..."
The tall blonde boy interrupted, "Hey wait, that sounds like something we can handle…"
The petite dark girl bowed respectfully, "Hokage-sama, despite our youthfulness, we are mature enough in our sensibilities to handle any uncomfortable situation without resorting to typical adolescent behavior. After all, we are trained shinobi."
"Well said, Rikako-chan," smiled Kakashi who wanted this particular mission as much as Kenji. He reached out to pat her on her head.
She ducked, but too late. He mussed up her hair. 'How annoying!'
"All right," Sandaime agreed. "The client lives in the Wave Country. He has requested a contract for one week. Since this is a long mission, make sure you have all your necessary supplies and equipment. Also remember to itemize your expenses. We'll arrange for suitable housing. I'll inform the client you'll be arriving tomorrow evening so you should leave first thing tomorrow morning."
Rikako looked doubtfully at her sensei, "What would be a reasonable time for us to expect you to arrive, Kakashi sensei?"
'She doesn't have any faith in me does she?' "Well, since it is our first C mission…I'll be on time. We'll leave at dawn…" Kakashi smiled fondly at his team.
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Kakashi was almost on time, just five minutes late, not long enough for his team to start contemplating his punishment.
They passed through the immense wooden gates of Konoha to walk along the main road that intersected with other paths to various villages. On the way, the boys discussed the mission. They found the circumstances quite hilarious.
"What does that old geezer expect? Marrying such a beautiful young wife," laughed Kenji.
Takeo agreed, "Yeah, of course she's after his money, it's sure not for his body!"
Kakashi ignored them, but agreed silently.
Rikako remarked seriously, "It's a sad thing not to trust someone you love. Suppose she thinks he's the one fooling around with a girl in every port."
"Well, don't you think she's cheating on him?" asked Kenji.
Rikako sighed, "Probably. And he's probably cheating on her, too. It's human nature to lie and cheat."
"That's a very cynical outlook for one so young, Rikako-chan," interjected their sensei.
The girl shrugged, "Maybe, but it's the truth, isn't it? As a shinobi that's what we learn, isn't it? The art of deception, it's the same thing."
Takeo shook his head. "That's not true. I mean, we learn how to deceive our enemies and opponents in battle. It's not like lying to friends and family."
The larger boy agreed. "Yeah, and all that emphasis on teamwork and being loyal to your team. That's totally different."
Rikako pondered, "Can you always be loyal to your teammates? What if it's a critical mission and they have to be sacrificed? You might have to make an ad hoc decision to betray them. What do you think Kakashi-sensei?"
"Hmm? Yeah, they're probably both cheating," Kakashi mused.
"No, I mean about betraying your comrades," Rikako repeated seriously.
Kakashi groaned inwardly and thought, 'It's Rikako's situational morality question of the week. She's always asking questions with no easy answers. I think I'll just give her my standard answer, I don't want to get into a lengthy debate right now.' "Well, it would be up to each shinobi at that point in time to make his or her own individual decision."
All three genin yelled, "Cop out!"
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Kakashi had always tried to impress upon his genin teams the importance of teamwork and watching out for each other. He knew things were never quite as black and white as he made them out to be. The lessons that his father and Obito had taught him were not simple lessons. His father chose to save his comrades over completing his mission. Konoha suffered a defeat that led to many deaths and his father was disgraced. Since then he believed the mission came first, until Obito and his sacrifice. Since then Kakashi believed Obito and his father were right. But it was one thing to preach it and another to stand by it. He'd been lucky so far, he hadn't had to make such an impossible choice. Or rather he'd been unlucky and the choice had always been made for him.
There were no more precious ones in his life to protect, except for his past genin, who no longer needed him, and his current genin. Otherwise he kept to solo missions, avoided friendships, just so he would never have to make such choices. A lonely life, but a safe one.
Teamwork...friendship...that lesson was ultimately lost on his first team, wasn't it? Shinobi were a different and difficult lot. Their lives were so far removed from those of civilians even while residing in the same village. Comrades were friends. Rivals were friends. Or so he'd like to think. To think anything less would have tarnished the idealized memory of his best friend, the original owner of his sharingan.
The veteran shinobi looked over his shoulder at his team, a bit sadly. They were still naïve. But sooner or later they would have to make a difficult choice. Sooner or later they would have to take a life. No shinobi could avoid it, not even the shinobi medics like Otori. But taking an enemy's life was sadly easier than making a decision that would affect your comrades.
So though he preached the concepts of teamwork and friendship, he avoided them whenever possible. He knew his words, his lessons, really meant nothing. Real lessons had to be lived. Decisions were made on the spur of the moment. The boys on his team took his words to heart, at face value. But his advice was never good enough for the deeper thinker on his team.
-...-
"What if we find that the person we're hired to protect is a criminal? Are we still bound by contract?"
"Well, in the contract there is a disclosure clause. If the client hasn't been honest with us, we can declare the contract null and void."
"What if it's an assassination contract but the victim is actually innocent?"
"Well, if the contract stipulates the crime, since he's innocent then the contract would be void."
"If one of us committed a crime and came to you for help, would you turn us in?"
"Well, it would depend on the crime and why you did it. But I would encourage you to turn yourself in."
"Would you eat human meat if you were starving and had no other alternative?"
"I don't know, I suppose so, but I wouldn't kill someone to eat them."
"If you were stuck in a cave with a stranger with only enough air for one person, would you kill him?"
"I would be able to get out of a cave easily."
"If someone were holding hostages and threatened to kill them unless his demands were met, and in order to get at him, some of the hostages could be killed, how do you weigh the demands against lives? What if more lives could be lost if he isn't taken out? Should the hostages be considered expendable?"
"Umm, could you repeat that?"
"If you were a medic-nin and a lord or kage of a neighboring country and a Leaf comrade were brought in at the same time, with similar injuries, whom would you save first?"
"Uh, ask your father that one."
"If you had the power over life and death, how many people would you sacrifice so that your loved ones will live? Double the number? Triple? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? How much more is a known life worth than those of strangers? As shinobi isn't our first priority to protect the nameless people of the village?"
-…-
Sometimes it was all he could do to avoid answering her (often rather strange) questions, to avoid even thinking of them and opening up the Pandora's box of his past. It seemed she knew about him from her father and was insisting on testing or tormenting him. Or maybe he was just being paranoid and she just wanted to be ready for any situation. 'But how annoying!' Still he swore to himself that he'd protect his team, no matter what. Luckily, this was just a simple surveillance mission.
Towards the end of the day the team approached Wave Country. As they crossed the Great Naruto Bridge, Kakashi told his new team what it was like there three years ago. "You see this entire waterfront is new. This country was nearly destitute back then. This bridge has allowed vehicular trade traffic into Fire Country. Wave Country has become an important stopping ground for imports into Fire Country and this has freed up Fire Country's port congestion." The genin looked appreciatively at the immense structure. Takeo in particular was interested in its architecture and slowed his paced to study its joints.
"So why is it called the Great Naruto Bridge?" asked Rikako curiously, "There are no whirlpools here, are there?"
"It was named after one of my genin at the time. He inspired the entire town to stand up against a shipping magnate who was trying to take over."
Rikako nodded and filed away that piece of information. She wanted to ask more questions but knew Kakashi did not like to talk about his past missions or himself at all. He was a master of evasion, in every respect.
"Where will we be staying Kakashi-sensei?" asked Kenji who started to feel quite hungry despite having ate most of his shinobi rations.
"Well, since we're supposed to be doing undercover surveillance, the Hokage has sent a message ahead. We'll be staying with the family of the bridge builder Tazuna. That way if anyone identifies us as shinobi, they'll think we're here to visit a former client." Old Sandaime was a smart one. Tazuna still owed them big time for the mission that turned from a C to an A mission. Sandaime figured he could use Tazuna to house the team for free and still charge the client the going lodging rates.
Takeo showed more excitement than usual. "We get to meet the guy who designed this bridge? Awesome! But maybe we shouldn't be walking around with these forehead protectors. They kind of make us stand out."
"Kakashi-sensei, maybe you should remove your mask and wear sunglasses," Rikako suggested. 'Take off your mask for once, you weirdo!'
Kakashi replied, "This is your mission not mine. I'm just here visiting an old client. You guys will be doing all the leg work. I'm just filing the report."
'So what else is new?' The three genin thought.
It was the first time Kakashi had been back to Wave Country since the mission with Naruto's team, but despite all the changes, he was able to navigate the new roads and found Tazuna's house. It looked much as it did before, but its exterior had been recently renovated.
An older man, wearing glasses with gray hair and gray beard, answered the door. Despite his age he looked in good shape, smart and spry. Tazuna greeted the team, but was critical as usual as he looked them over. "Hmmf, Kakashi-sensei, I see your genin sure haven't improved any. That big one looks as dumb as an ox. That one looks like a wimp. And the girl...is she even old enough to sleep away from home?"
Kakashi scratched his head trying to think of an appropriate response.
Kenji was about to go off on the old geezer, but fortunately Rikako defused the situation. "Tazuna-san, deception is part of being a shinobi. We will be working incognito. If you are so fooled, then we have been successful." She gave him a respectful bow and a smile
'Did she just call me a fool?' thought Tazuna.
Kakashi chuckled and reached out to pat the petite kunoichi on her head. "Yes, they're much stronger than they look."
The girl blushed and tried to move away, but her sensei had already messed up her hair. 'How annoying!'
"My daughter Tsunami is in the kitchen, dinner should be ready soon. My grandson Inari is out fishing, but he should be back by then. You can settle down first, your rooms are ready." Tazuna was now trying to be nice. "Kakashi-sensei has his own room. The girl can stay in my daughter's room, and the boys can stay in Inari's room while Inari bunks with me."
"So Kakashi sensei is the only one with his own room?" asked Kenji jealously.
"Of course, I'm the elite shinobi heading this mission," Kakashi smiled.
"I'm sure Kakashi sensei requires the most peaceful rest, considering his age and the amount of energy he expends during the day..." said the girl with a laugh. '...reading his book. I wonder if he snores or wears that mask to sleep,' she added to herself
Kakashi looked down at her. His right eyebrow curved just slightly, enough to show he was not as nonchalant as he always appeared. 'I'm NOT that old, just a few months before the big 3-0. If she were an orphan I'd teach her a lesson, but that would just get me in trouble with her father.'
"Is there time for a nap before dinner?" asked the sleep-eyed boy. Traveling all day was something Takeo was definitely not used to.
Tazuna nodded, "You have an hour."
The team disbanded to their respective rooms before dinner where they performed their characteristic activities: Kakashi read a book by an up and coming author that even made him blush; Takeo slept while ignoring Kenji's grunts as he did situps and pushups; and Rikako wrote in her notebook.
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