Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

"So catching Tora is still an accepted mission? I thought people would've avoided it so much that it would have been blacklisted by Hokage-sama by now?" Shisui joked, lightly laughing at the plight of our favorite boys.

We walked along the rooftops of Konoha, not caring if we were spotted. After the first year or so of our mission, the Hokage had taken careful measures to create an adequate identity for Shisui, ensuring that who he really was remained obscured to all those uninvolved. He was allowed to rest leisurely in the outskirts of Konoha whenever he was in town under two conditions.

He could not communicate with Naruto in anyway—even while disguised—and he could not seek out Danzo either. It was, to the say the least, a rather minute request from the Third, and Shisui had little trouble with conceding to it. This was as close he could ever get to returning to a somewhat ordinary life, even as a shinobi, and he wouldn't let the chance slip by.

"C'mon, why would the Hokage ban the Tora terror missions? They might be the bane of every genin's career, but they're also the chosen form of entertainment for all people ranked above them," I spoke pointedly, as if I were quoting a universal truth.

"It's the bane of our careers too, Mai. We've watched them catch the damned cat at least five times. That's a pretty incredible record considering they've only been genin for, what—two weeks? Three?" he spoke wryly, though in truth there was no real irritation in his voice.

Peaceful times like these were not to be taken for granted, and everyone who wasn't a genin knew that. Complaining about boredom was simply a shinobi's way of trying to fabricate a 'normal' personality.

"I wouldn't be so quick to complain." I spared him a secretive smile as we arrived outside of the Hokage's office. "They're about to leave for their first C-ranked mission today, and it won't be a pleasant one."

He quirked an eyebrow. "And you know this how?"

"Naruto's patience is only going to last so long, Shisui. From all the complaining he and Sasuke have done over the last couple weeks, I just have a hunch that they'll be at their limit today," I lied, following the somewhat made up story with a bit of truth. "That, and I may have also convinced them to argue for a C-ranked mission today."

He flicked my forehead, clicking his tongue as he did so, and ignoring the lengthy explanation for my near-clairvoyant predictions. "What did I tell you about using my name while we're in public?" he chastised.

I returned his scolding with a belittling movement of my own. Reaching up, I gently smacked his forehead with the back of my hand. "If someone managed to eavesdrop on us without you, a former ANBU operative, noticing, we probably have a lot more to worry about than whether or not they heard me using your name. In fact, we'd probably have already been cut down if they were able to get that close to us anyways."

He sighed in exasperation, probably deciding that an argument as pointless as this one wasn't worth continuing. "And Morbid Mai makes her debut."

As our half-serious bickering winded down, Team 7 exited the Hokage's building looking as (mostly) chipper as ever.

Naruto was practically skipping towards the village gates, singing a made up tune about his first trip out of Konoha. A few steps behind from Naruto, Sasuke looked a little less visibly excited, but the ghost of an amused smile on his lips said it all. Even Kakashi seemed to watch the two boys fondly as they began their first real mission. Between the two boys and their sensei was a ragged looking man—Tazuna, if I recalled correctly. It was a wonder that they hadn't figured out that something was off about their newest

mission; before it even started, their client seemed overly precautious about their journey.

And then there was Sakura.

It was becoming quite obvious that her lack of passion for the path she had chosen wasn't just a slump she had fallen into. Everything she had done while under my watch had practically dripped with apathy. There was no other explanation to it—no way of faking it so well. Sakura really did not care about her life this time around, and this was becoming more and more of a pressing issue as we went further down the line.

Heeding Shisui's warning about the two of us being exposed, I placed more effort into obscuring our presences. Hoping that the first time she had detected me was really just fluke was the most I could do to stop myself from losing it. Everything about her put me on edge—the easygoing way she walked, her lack of communication with the rest of the team, an unignorable, silent declaration of war against those who had underestimated her.

None of it made sense.

Sakura didn't make sense—and that was something that I couldn't afford. Every move I wanted to make and every person I wanted to save all depended on me being able to accurately know the outcome of certain events. If Sakura could change so drastically from a minor encounter with me, there was no telling what else could have gone wrong with the timeline since my entrance into it.

"Mai," Shisui whispered, placing a hand on my shoulder and jolting me out of my panicked thoughts. I flinched away from his touch, but he didn't begin to apologize as he usually did. He was too preoccupied with staring at something below us, and every bit of me already knew what it was. "We've been found."

I spared Sakura a glance as both Shisui and I began to shunshin out of the area. We both vanished into a whirlpool of leaves, with the last sight I saw being her cocky grin.

She was looking me in the eye.

Within a matter of seconds, Shisui and I stood on the opposite side of the entrance into the village, both of us somewhat hidden in the surrounding forest. He looked just as disturbed as I was.

"How did she…" he trailed off, not wanting to acknowledge it just as much as I did.

"I don't know." I didn't let my tone of voice betray how shaken up I really felt whenever Sakura was present, but Shisui knew me well enough to understand when something was off.

"I'll look into it once we're back in the village." He was acting as if he was doing it for himself, but it would have taken willful ignorance on my part to not have seen that he was investigating the matter for my peace of mind.

I couldn't let him get involved with something as suspicious as Sakura's sudden change in personality.

"No thanks," I forced out through gritted teeth. "I can solve this one on my own. I'm not a kid anymore, y'know. Besides, you have something else to focus on right now."

"Like what?" he asked, bemused. "I haven't received any messages from Itachi or Jiraiya about there being more information for me to pass on."

I stilled. I was positive someone would have debriefed him by now. I mean, why else would he have tagged along while I trailed Team 7? There was no way he was carefree enough to do such a menial task simply because he was bored, or because he wanted to be in someone's company, right?

The confused look on his face indicated otherwise.

This was going to be a pain in the ass to deal with if he wanted to get out of our mission now.

"Remember that mission I was assigned to a few weeks ago? The one where Team 7 and I are both basically babysitting each other in some weird checks and balances ordeal?"

Realization seemed to have dawned on him. "You didn't."

"I did."

"Kid."

Frantically waving my hands to show him that I had meant no harm, I began to babble an explanation. I wasn't any good with verbal confrontation anymore. "Hokage-sama wanted me to tail Team 7 because of the suspicious activity that they're expected to get involved in—y'know, based on the information that Itachi got us. Naruto can't exactly bring his entire ANBU guard crew with him, so I was given permission to come up with a trustworthy team."

"And I'm…" It was as if it physically pained him to vocalize it.

I grimaced at his lack of enthusiasm. "Congratulations on somehow receiving a mission in the grave."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, then raised his head to reveal the grin he had been hiding. "And here I was, thinking I had finally been given vacation time. Oh well, I'd much rather be on active duty anyways."

I did a doubletake.

"You knew all along, didn't you?"

"Hokage-sama told me before I ran into you during Naruto's fight with Mizuki-san, but…"

"You figured it'd be more fun if you dragged it out and scared the shit out of me right before the actual start of the mission," I finished for him, eyes narrowed at the sheepish Uchiha.

"You're just too easy to tease."

I shook my head, but refrained from lingering on the small joke. Our time left until Team 7 would reach the gates was dwindling by the second, and I had to debrief him as quickly as comprehensibly possible. From the looks of it, I couldn't to let anything too consequential slip while in the presence of Sakura. I didn't know if her new identity was harmful, but I didn't intend on finding out the hard way either.

"They're going to the Land of Waves."

This time he seemed genuinely confused as to why that tidbit of information was important.

"It's essentially being held hostage by Gato," I added, and Shisui's expression grew darker in response. "I've heard they've been struggling with money, and I suspect that the C-rank mission our boys have been given isn't a C-rank at all."

His eyes narrowed at the lack of trepidation in my tone. "And you haven't told the Hokage because?"

I gave him a casual shrug. "Growing pains will be good for them. Besides, anything they can't handle, we can."

He still looked dubious, but it was far too late to back out now. I waited until the last possible second to break the worst of the news to him. "Rumor has it that Gato has hired a few mercenaries."

"Isn't that common?"

I frowned. "Yes, but… they're not just any mercenaries." I really didn't want to be the one to inform him of who our probable opponents are.

"Spit it out."

"Remember that guy that all of Konoha's shinobi force was joking about going mad in Kirigakure?"

He and I both knew damn well how vague that description was. "Half of Kiri's shinobi have gone nuts. You're gonna have to be a little more specific than that."

I cringed. He was seriously going to give me a smack upside the head if I outright admitted to what I had dragged him into. "The assassin involved in Kiri's failed coup…"

"Mai."

"Shisui," I addressed back, smiling sweetly.

"Mai."

This was where the hard part was. Shisui noticed my hesitation to continue speaking and groaned. "There's more to it, isn't there?"

"You know me too well." There was no point in prolonging this. "Technically speaking, you are the superior in this mission because of our difference in rank, but if it's all the same to you, once we engage in combat with Momochi-san… would you only attack to incapacitate?"

"It is definitely not all the same to me," Shisui sighed, now looking genuinely exasperated with my request. Then the corners of his mouth twitched up ever so slightly. "But I guess it's time I finally makeup that favor I owe you for dealing with Naruto and Sasuke for so long."

His agreement to go along with my scheme came just in time for us to avoid communicating with each other with Team 7 around. As loud and boisterous as ever, the group exited the village and began the journey to the Land of Wave at an easy pace. No one—not even the consistently surprising Sakura—gave any indication of their knowledge of Shisui's and my presence.

"The sun is pretty hot today," Shisui commented a couple hours into the trek.

It was code for an ambush from an unidentified group.

Below us, the out-of-place puddle glistened almost blindingly, and any experienced shinobi would have detected the presences hidden within it by now. While Team 7 might have been well trained, the one thing they lacked—besides normalcy—was just that. Experience.

To prevent them from having to go through the trouble of dealing with an enemy attack while on what was supposed to be an easygoing mission, Shisui readied a kunai to take care of their opponents for them.

Before I could intervene, the two Demon Brothers revealed themselves to the group, and Shisui released the deadly weapon.

A weapon that couldn't be allowed to prevent the crucial skirmish from happening.

Team 7 needed to be involved in this battle if they didn't want to perish in their fight with Zabuza. As talented as they might be in a training environment, experience in battle would almost always be the deciding factor in the end. Exceptional abilities didn't matter if they couldn't be used in an actual altercation.

I was left with few other options.

I threw myself in front of Shisui, intent on blocking his attack.

:D A speedy update 'cause I felt bad for taking so long for the last one. Mai is back at it again with getting stupidly injured due to her compulsive movements. Mai's decided to save Zabuza! Do you think she's gonna be able to pull it off?

I updated Dead Men Tell Some Tales, another Naruto fanfic that I've written, and I would love if you guys could check it out an leave feedback!

I'd love to get some reviews for this chapter too, though lol. If you liked it, please feel free to leave a comment, even a small one!

Have a great day!~