They're leaving Wave behind when Sakura abruptly stops in the middle of the road, rummaging in her pack before tossing a box to Naruto.

"Wet wipes," the girl says in explanation when Naruto raises a brow at her.

"I don't know," the other girl muses, "I kinda wanna see the old man's face when I walk in covered in blood."

"Trust me," their sensei speaks up then, calling over his shoulder from his position ahead, "the Hokage has seen worse. Besides, partly dried blood is already hard enough to clean. It'll be completely dried by the time we get back, and it takes forever to actually get it all off."

"Really?" Naruto asks, looking at him curiously.

"Definitely," Kakashi confirms with a grimace, though the team can't see it from under his mask. "And then you spend days picking bits off your nails and scrubbing behind your ears, wondering how you managed to get blood back there."

"Fine," Naruto concedes reluctantly, taking the wipes from Sakura and doing her best to clean her face and hands off as they continue on.

"Sensei?" Sakura eventually speaks up, and Kakashi turns at the hesitant tone in her voice.

"Yes?"

"Sasuke wants to know what we'll tell the Hokage, since we let a missing-nin go."

"Sasuke does?" their sensei asks, turning to look at the boy and blinking when he nods.

"I think we can spin it into a positive. Zabuza made it seem like he was going back to Kiri anyways. And even if he wasn't, it's good to have one of the seven swordsmen on our side."

"Alright," Sakura agrees, though she's still frowning.

"Are you alright?" Kakashi asks then, directing the question at Sasuke.

The boy pauses before moving his fingers in practiced motions. Tired. Don't have Naruto or Sakura's stamina.

Kakashi looks over them then, noticing how Sasuke has started to lag behind the two girls.

"We'll have to work on that," their sensei addresses him before turning and leading them onward.

Wonderful, Sasuke signs with a grimace, jabbing his elbow into Naruto's side when she slows down and snickers.

"Hey!" Naruto yelps, "not my fault we're so awesome. Well, at least compared to you."

Fuck you, Sasuke signs back, dodging the shove Naruto sends his way and furiously moving his fingers as she starts to reply.

Sakura only turns and watches with a fond smile, a chuckle escaping as Naruto trips Sasuke and traps him in a headlock.

Her clothes are ruined-well, most of her clothes. Her boots, custom made and steel toed, should be clean after a day spent polishing. Naruto's forehead protector seems fine too, since it wasn't like she was headbutting anybody.

But the rest of her outfit-her vest, her pants, everything-is covered in layers of blood she knows won't wash off. Replacing it will be expensive, especially since most of it is custom fabric from one of the more expensive shinobi outfitters. It's a good thing the D-ranks pay, and it's good that they should be getting an even bigger payout from the Demon Brothers' bounty.

But looking at the blood soaked through her clothes, Naruto is forced to concede that she may have been a little too enthusiastic.

May have? Kurama asks sarcastically, and she just knows his tails are flicking in amusement.

Shouldn't you be napping? Naruto retorts internally.

Please, the fox scoffs, this will be far more interesting.

Great, now I'm entertainment, Naruto thinks, ignoring Kurama's laughter.

Whatever. It just means she'll have to ask Kakashi-sensei for help working on her control.

It just feels wrong to rein herself in. It feels like she shouldn't stop, like she should rip apart opponents without a care.

But that's overconfidence, that's impatience, and those will get you killed.

Kakashi had planned on leading his team into the Hokage's office via the window. Looking at Sasuke though, looking at the way the girls seem to instinctively move to cover him, that wouldn't be the best idea. Not when the boy seems like he'd be too tired for proper chakra control.

Instead they follow him (like ducklings, Kakashi thinks with a laugh, murderous ducklings) through the halls of the Hokage tower.

They stop at the start of the hallway to the Hokage's office, Sasuke signing Flicker? when Kakashi turns to see why they've stopped.

His smile may be masked, but he has no doubt the boy can tell. Sasuke has always been the most restrained member of his new team. It's good to see the boy showing a sense of humor, even if it takes exhaustion to reveal itself.

He nods once in affirmation, already making the hand sign, before the world shifts.

The first thing he registers is a shocked gasp, and Kakashi turns just slightly to see Kurenai and her team out of the corner of his eye.

The Inuzuka boy always seems afraid around his team, but now the genin looks ready to faint. The Aburame doesn't seem too affected, and Kakashi has a feeling his trio has probably conditioned the boy.

The gasp comes from the Hyuga with a crush on Naruto, who's watching the other girl with wide eyes as she takes in the dried blood covering her clothes. He really does need to have a talk with Naruto about moderation.

Kakashi ignores Kurenai's questioning glance to dip into a bow, certain his students are doing the same behind him.

"I would like to request the mission status be changed to A-rank, Hokage-sama."

"Really?" the Hokage asks with a frown, "and why is that?"

"The client lied." Kakashi bluntly replies. "The client was under threat of death from Zabuza Momochi and the Demon Brothers, who were all hired by a man called Gato."

"I see," Hiruzen frowns. "Was the mission a failure, then?"

"No," Naruto speaks up from behind him.

She's looking at him expectantly, a silent question in her eyes, and he steps back to let her take the floor. It'll be good practice.

"We managed to successfully defend Tazuna," Naruto replies. "The mission proceeded normally until we encountered the Demon Brothers and killed them. Shortly afterwards Zabuza attacked. We managed to subdue him and agreed on a deal to split the contents of Gato's personal belongings fifty-fifty. It's…unusual, but we did succeed in protecting the client by taking down the instigator."

Naruto pauses then to take a storage seal out of her jacket and lay it on the Hokage's desk. "This is what we managed to collect from Gato's estate."

Kakashi very carefully doesn't cackle or laugh at the confusion obvious in the Hokage's face.

"If I may," he adds, "Sasuke and Naruto also performed admirably in killing the Demon Brothers on their own."

Kurenai's eyes widen at that, and Kakashi has no doubt every jounin will know about this by sundown.

"Well," Hiruzen finally speaks up, very carefully hiding his shock, "in light of this news, I do think we can change the pay to that of an A-rank mission."

"Congratulations," the Hokage smiles at his team, "on your first A-rank."

"Now, if there's anything else?" Hiruzen asks, though the question is clearly intended as a dismissal.

"No, Hokage-sama," Kakashi confirms, turning and leading his team out.

The sun is bright and shining when he turns to Naruto and Sakura, who have moved to flank Sasuke.

"I can show you the bounty desk," he offers, but Sakura shakes her head.

"The storage scroll acts as a preservative, we can turn the heads in after Sasuke gets some rest."

The boy opens his mouth to protest at that, but quiets soon enough at the twin glares aimed at him.

"Alright," Kakashi concedes, "have fun."

He watches the girls lead Sasuke down to the residential sector for a moment. Then he's leaping onto a nearby roof, feet silent as he makes his way across the roofs to Interrogation's headquarters.

While he rarely ever follows through, Kakashi does know when to seek help.

For this particular problem he'll need it.