Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
"Good, you're all here."
Nagato, standing to the far left of the six ANBU agents, eyed Sarutobi and couldn't deny that he felt just a little nervous about this whole thing. He was glad that his mask covered his face; no longer was he entirely comfortable letting others see his emotions, not unless they were those he trusted above all others.
And even though Hokage-sama was, well, Hokage-sama, Nagato would be lying if he said he counted Sarutobi Hiruzen among the people he trusted most in his life.
"I trust all of you are wondering what you are doing here, in full-uniform, at this time of night."
They were indeed. Well, Nagato was at least, and he was sure the others were as well. Even if they were ANBU, ANBU weren't particularly accustomed to being summoned to the Hokage's office at, let's count, two thirty-five in the morning. Konan had not been happy when someone started to knock on the window of the room and Nagato shared.
Sarutobi's eyes were dark and heavy and Nagato could tell he had thought long and hard about this mission, and that in the end he didn't like the thought that he was having to assign it. That, Nagato knew, was never a good sign.
"The six of you are being given a new assignment, and given the seriousness of it I didn't feel a summons during regular hours was advisable.
"I wish for the six of you to look into the activities of one Orochimaru, Konohagakure jonin, and to track his movements without being caught."
One could have heard a pin drop and Sarutobi had achieved something no one before him ever had: he had successfully stunned a half-dozen ANBU at once with nothing but words.
Behind his mask, Nagato was gaping. Is he… Is he serious? Come to think of it, Nagato had heard rumors, but there were always rumors floating around Orochimaru. He was the sort of man that just generated rumor by breathing. He didn't need to do anything more than that.
"Hokage-sama…" The white-cloaked ANBU captain at the center of the group, spoke up, his voice trailing off.
"Yes, Kazumichi-taicho?" Sarutobi asked wearily.
Nagato's squad captain straightened. "What do you want us to look for, Hokage-sama?"
Sarutobi rubbed his forehead as if to ward off a migraine. "Anything that strikes you as suspicious. And by "suspicious", I don't mean something of the caliber of forgetting to pay his tip or distilling sake out of his basement."
Oh boy. I'm think I'm going to regret joining ANBU before this mission is over.
"Needless to say, you will all still be assigned normal missions during the duration of this one, so as not to draw suspicion to yourselves. However, during the space of time between said missions, you are to devote all your attention to Orochimaru. This is a long-term mission, and a top-secret one; you are not permitted to discuss it with anyone not standing in my office at this moment." Sarutobi shot a sharp look at the cat-masked ANBU to Nagato's immediate right, who had taken a step forward. "And no, you're not allowed to object."
As Nagato left the Hokage's office to go back home, his stomach started to churn.
One of those infamous "bad feelings" was starting to rear its ugly head.