Here is a shout-out to all my readers. I am a little embarrassed of myself because of the inconsistent updates. I am proud of all of you that have reviewed for me so far and I have made the decision to PM every one of my reviewers to give them feedback on what I thought about their reviews and suggestions. I have been so obsessed with having feedback from my story that I thought that those of you that reviewed also deserve feedback for helping me. I hope you enjoy this chapter reviewers. I decided that this would be a little unconventional because of the situation at the beginning of the chapter. Don't worry about what's gonna be different. You all will see so soon enough. It makes me smile when I see that you all enjoy my story. Well, enough of my rant. (I've been doing that a lot lately) Here is the Chappie.

Chapter XIII: Missing

I was fuming. Why did this sort of thing have to happen? I marched into the building that held the Hokage's office. Shizune was walking down the hall near Tsunade's office and saw me and my angry visage. She tried to slow me down or calm me down but that would not happen right now. Tsunade had some explaining to do.

"Hey! Calm down! You don't have to be so mad. Just breath a little. Lady Tsunade is really busy right now. I wouldn't want to bother her." Shizune stumbled for anything that would appease me. But I was not happy in the slightest.

"Excuse me, Shizune, but I am here to talk to Tsunade. So kindly step aside because I do not want to force you!" I was being curt and rude to Shizune and I know that she did not deserve it. But I needed to see Tsunade now and nothing would deter me.

I marched into her office and slammed my palm on her desk. She looked surprised at the noise of my hand but she did not care for my anger.

"What on Earth do you think you are doing here banging your hand on My desk?" Tsunade asked without much patience.

"I want you to explain to me exactly why you sent Naruto away." I was pretty upset. No one knew about this little mission of his or the fact that he would be gone for a while. I had tried to ask around and find out what the mission was and how long he was gonna be gone, but all I could find out was that this would be a longer mission and that he was sent alone.

"I know that you are worried. But you don't need to come barging in here acting extremely pissed off to find out. Control yourself! If you want the information I will tell you. But you need to get a grip on yourself."

At her words, my resolve faltered. This was not like myself. I didn't act like this. I immediately felt so embarrassed at my actions and went to sit in a chair in front of her desk.

"Gomen Nasai! Tsunade-sensei. I don't know what came over me. I just got so mad because people were hiding things from me and I hated being left out."

At my words, she gave a small smile and sat back down at her desk. "Shizune!"

"Yes, Milady?" She had popped her head through the door to see what the Hokage had wanted.

"Please bring some tea in for us. We might need some time to talk so cancel any appointments that I had for the next little while okay?" Tsunade wasn't mean but she commanded attention. Shizune looked at her little notebook that held the schedule and determined that there was nothing too crucial on it that couldn't be rescheduled and nodded. She went for the tea.

In the office, the two sat and waited for the tea. It was not long before Shizune returned with the pot and two cups. "Thank you Shizune. Now wait outside until I call you and turn anyone that comes away."

"Yes, Milady." She bowed and went out, closing the door behind her.

Tsunade took a cup and poured herself some tea, adding some sugar to it. She poured some for her guest and handed it to him. "Sugar?"

"No thanks." He said off-handedly.

She sat back and blew on her tea. It was quite warm. Just how she liked it. Tea seemed to calm her and make things much easier for her to deal with. Placing the cup down she sighed. "So what is this all about Iruka?"

The man in question was sitting back in his chair and watching the wisps of steam escape his teacup. He looked up to her and gave a wry smile. Then his lips turned flat as he was thinking about what he would say.

"I want to know about Naruto. Where did you sent him and why. I want to know how long he will be gone and I want to know what the mission is." He looked at her, knowing full-well that she could not just divulge information at her leisure and that if it was important enough, he would never find out.

"Tsunade studied him for a moment before she responded. "I figured that is what you wanted so I took some precautionary measures by not allowing anyone to bother us." He looked at her then and understood why she acted the way she did at his entrance. She new he was interested in Naruto's whereabouts and decided it best to tell him. But how much was yet to be determined.

She took a sip of her tea and sighed once more. This was gonna be a long explanation. "Naruto is going on a long mission that infiltrates the Village Hidden in the Clouds. I didn't want anyone to know of this mission." She paused to take another sip from her cup.

"Why not. We don't exactly have an unfriendly time with the Hidden Cloud village."

She swallowed more of her tea before continuing. "We had received some intel that the Cloud village has been moving and assembling an army. For what purpose, we have yet to determine. That is what Naruto is there for. He is small enough that he can hide pretty well while still having a good enough distance to find out what is going on. He can also defend himself well and has been trained by exceptional Shinobi."

"That isn't the point. Why didn't you have anyone know of his mission?"

"Iruka. You of all people should know why. A Shinobi's mission is always supposed to be classified. And this was especially risky with a leak of information because if they are gathering military forces and find out that we are sending over a spy, they would first kill him and then turn to us as an enemy. This would not be in any way acceptable to me or those God-damn elders." She huffed a little because she was worked up about how those pruney, old hags made the decision for her as to what the mission entailed. She was the damn Hokage, so she should have been able to make the executive decision.

"I understand Tsunade-sama. I am sorry for causing such a ruckus today."

She was brought out of her mental rampaging when she heard his apology. She looked at him and smiled. This was the Iruka that she knew was level-headed and a damn fine shinobi. "It's okay Iruka. I know how much you adored Naruto. He is growing up and becoming a strong Shinobi. I am glad that you took care of him. He has a good mentor in you."

"Thank you Tsunade-sama. I really do worry about him and when he is gone, I want to know where he is. He is my responsibility."

"I know you feel that way. And I am glad to hear that, but this mission is his own. I forgot to tell you this but don't get mad."

"Okay. I promise that I won't get mad."

"I sent him on this mission. But it is a high ranked mission."

"Okay. How high?"

"This is an A/S ranked mission." After she uttered those words, all that greeted her was silence. She peered up to Iruka who looked shocked but also was deep in thought. She really didn't know how to combat this situation. He didn't react like she thought he would. Either he was not mad and he just wanted to figure it out. Or he was really good at keeping his word.

"How long?"

"Excuse me?" She had no idea what he was talking about.

"How long is he going to be gone?"

She pondered this a little. "He should be gone for just less than a month. He needed to gather information and report it back to me. This was a covert mission after all."

Iruka seemed to take this into account. He seemed to be running a complex calculation through his mind when he looked up. Worry was in his eyes, but she could also see that he had come to some sort of decision. "He should be fine as long as he is not discovered."

She let out a breath from the relief that flooded through her. He was right after all. If Naruto did not get discovered, he should be fine. But, if for some reason he did get discovered. They would never see him again. She didn't know if she could live with that. But, she had to make some pretty tough decisions as to what to do because she was the Hokage.

"I agree with you compl-"

"Tsunade-Sama!" She did not get to finish her sentence when her door busted through and out jumped a brunet mop of hair that was accented by the red tattoos on the cheeks. Kiba looked a little confused as to why she was looking at him like he did not belong there at the current time but that didn't matter at the moment.

"I'm so sorry Lady Tsunade! He just rushed in and before I could tell him to stop, he busted through your door." Shizune was so scared that she had let the Hokage down and that she might be getting yelled at soon. She had her head bowed as she waited for a response.

"It's quite alright Shizune." Tsunade said to calm the nerves of her subordinate. Her calm gaze then turned toward Kiba because he was the one responsible for her wrecked door. She was not so friendly now. She spoke with a business-like authority. "You do know that the cost of the door is gonna come out of your pay right?"

Kiba looked a little embarrassed because he wrecked the door, but that is not what concerned him right now. He shook his head to clear it of any thoughts and concentrate on his original purpose. "Yea, well, I came here to ask you about Naruto. I was looking for him throughout the village and he wasn't anywhere."

Tsunade started to speak only to be interrupted by Iruka. "He is on a mission and he won't be back for around a month or so." It was impossible to not see the crestfallen expression on Kiba's face upon hearing the news. Sure he was friends with the boy, but now he didn't have anyone to bother.

Iruka went over and placed his hands on the boy's shoulders. Kiba looked up. "Don't worry about him. He should be fine. I came here looking for him too and Tsunade-sama told me that he will be fine and back. It's just a longer mission is all."

He smiled to reassure his previous student. He didn't really know Kiba very well, but he did know that he was pretty loyal when it came to his friends.

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei. I suppose I need to go then. I got some stuff I need to do." He turned and left much less ostentatiously than he entered the room.

When she was sure that Kiba was out of earshot, she turned to Iruka. "Thanks for the quick response. It is better that he doesn't know the full extent of the mission."

Iruka only nodded and went to the door himself. He got through and went down the hall. He needed to relax and get home. When he was outside the building he took to the rooftops to get home. The run was uneventful and he needed a good stress reliever for all this worrying he did today. He wanted to settle down at home with a nice book and his favorite chamomile tea. That was his favorite place to be in the whole world.

He landed outside his apartment and walked the stairs to get to his floor. When he pulled out his key, he felt cool hands coil around his stomach and pull him to a broad chest. The breath on his left ear was scorching. "Have you missed me, Iruka-Sensei?"

He both loved and hated when the man said his name like that. It made him feel so weird inside. He was out of breath before he knew it. "Kakashi. When did you get back? You weren't supposed to be back from your mission for another few days." He leaned into the chest behind him. Kakashi just seemed to be the best support for anything that was bothering him.

He hummed in Iruka's ear as he considered his answer. "I finished early so that I could get back here. I missed you Sensei." He tightened his hold on the man. Iruka leaned out of his embrace this time and went to unlock the door. He needed to get inside. He was far too dignified to be seen doing things like this in public.

When he was inside he turned to see the man just standing there looking at him where he was standing before. He didn't seem too inclined to move at all. Huffing, Iruka grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him inside. "A bit forceful aren't we Sensei?" Now Kakashi was just playing with him. That pissed him off.

Iruka just huffed again and turned on his heals to head toward the living room. He didn't really care if Kakashi was following him or not. He needed to get to his book. He sat down on his couch and grabbed his book on the coffee table beside it. He opened it and began to read. He did notice the shift in weight on the couch and looked up to see Kakashi looking bored.

"I just need to get my mind off things Kakashi." He understood when Iruka was stressed and he let him be. Plus he had his own little book to be reading. Iruka didn't notice when Kakashi got out his little orange book and began reading.

They both had been reading for around ten minutes or so when Iruka got to a good part and sighed. He looked over and saw what little bit of literature that Kakashi had decided to occupy his time with reading. A tick had began to work its way onto his brow and e was getting frustrated. Iruka yanked the book out of Kakashi's hands and threw it across the room.

Kakashi looked over to him with a neutral expression. "Why did you do that?" He acted as if he was talking about something so trivial and it really ticked off Iruka.

"What do you mean? Why are you reading that garbage?" He was upset. He didn't like that trash that that perverse toad sage wrote.

"I f you recall, we had this discussion once already. I like reading these books. I have no reason for it. But what about you? I had you read one remember?" He looked expectantly at Iruka then.

"Yea, well I couldn't finish it." Of course he couldn't! It was so filthy and embarrassing. His face was so bright from embarrassment from the remembering what he had read. Some of those stories could be so descriptive that he shuddered.

"Well, I'm tired, so continue reading if you wish, but I'm gonna nap." At this, Iruka nodded and went back to his novel. But no sooner had he started to read than he was pulled to Kakashi. He laid his head on the man's chest and continued to read until he was tired. He fell asleep on the man's chest, the book long forgotten and on the floor.

Hey guys. I spent so much time on this that it really killed me. But, once I felt the inspiration, it got me to add this. I think I'm back on track. Don't forget to review. I would be more than happy to respond and hear some feedback. Ja Ne! Akira-kun, signing off.