A/N: Sorry for the wait! It's been a pretty busy week and I haven't had as much time to write as I would've liked.
The next day, Hanara went to the Missions Desk and got the most boring mission ever: guard duty for the Hokage Tower. She was stationed on the roof and was told to use her Byakugan to scan for any remote threats, note who entered the building and who left the building, and what time they entered and/or exited. So… maybe not too boring.
The day went by as usual with a ton of Academy students entering and exiting the building along with the handful of shinobi. Nothing was out of the ordinary until Hanara saw it.
"Hey, Ahma," Hanara called to her partner, "Did Lady Hokage mention any letters from the Sand arriving today?"
"No, why? Is there a hawk coming?" Ahma asked.
"Yeah…"
Once the hawk came, Hanara untied the scroll from its leg and sent the hawk on its way.
She read the note, mentally deciphered it (being in the Cryptanalysis Team helped with that), and gasped.
"I need to get this to Lady Hokage straight away," she informed Ahma after scribbling down the deciphered version underneath the note.
Not questioning it, Ahma nodded, causing Hanara to run down the side of the building and enter through Lady Tsunade's window.
"Lady Tsunade, terrible news," Hanara said, walking in.
'Oh, I guess Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi-Sensei are a team now.' she thought, noticing the three in the room, 'Oh, are Iruka-Sensei and Shizune helping them? I wonder what's going on.'
"What is it now?" she asked, sounding a bit annoyed.
"Emergency dispatch from the Sand," Hanara said hurriedly, walking up to her and handing over the scroll, "I deciphered it as quickly as I could."
"What the–" Tsunade gasped.
Hanara sighed and nodded grimly.
Iruka-Sensei and Shizune looked over Tsunade's shoulder and wore equal expressions of shock.
"It can't be!" Iruka-Sensei exclaimed.
"No way," Shizune murmured.
"What is it? What happened?" Naruto asked hesitantly.
Hanara looked to Tsunade, who gave her a nod.
"It's the Kazekage," said Hanara shortly, staring Naruto right in the eye, "He's been taken prisoner by the Akatsuki."
"You mean… Gaara," Naruto said.
She nodded.
"We've been studying them, so we know more about the Akatsuki than any other village. Therefore, the Sand has officially asked for our help," said Lady Tsunade.
"Granny, please. Let us do that mission instead," Naruto requested, unusually serious.
Lady Tsunade seemed to be thinking it over.
'Seriously? You're just gonna hand over Naruto to them? Well, I suppose she doesn't have the time to call another squad…'
"M'lady, you can't be giving in to his–" Shizune started.
"This is urgent, I haven't the time to dispatch another squad. Besides, we have two people here that have fought the Akatsuki."
Hanara startled, 'Me? I didn't do much other than shoot my mouth off… She can't be considering me!'
"Alright, Team Kakashi, I'm assigning you a new mission. You're to go to the Sand Village at once. Find out what's going on there and keep us informed. Remain there and follow their orders. Give them any backup necessary. And, Hanara, you're going to join them and be their team captain. This is your first month off the Cryptanalysis Team since becoming a Jonin, correct? This will be your first mission as a Jonin captain."
Hanara's eyes widened, 'That's such an important mission! Deep breaths, Hana, you can do this.'
"Right, Lady Tsunade!" Hanara nodded, "You'll need to tell Ahma that I won't be coming back or get someone else on guard duty on top of the tower though…"
"I'll handle that," Tsunade nodded, "Pack your things and leave as fast as you can."
"Right! Get to the main entrance in thirty minutes," she told her team.
'This is weird… leading Kakashi Sensei? Oh, Kami…'
Half an hour later, Hanara and the rest of her team along with Lady Tsunade and Iruka-Sensei were at the main gate.
"Okay! Let's get going!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Be back soon, m'lady," Sakura said, saluting.
"We won't let you down," Hanara nodded.
'Not nervous at all. Nope. No nervous-y feelings.'
"You bet we won't!" Naruto exclaimed, "Failure isn't an option."
'So feeling better now.'
"Good," Tsunade nodded.
"Naruto," Iruka-Sensei said softly, "Good luck."
Naruto nodded.
"Alright," Hanara started, "Let's go!"
However, they were stopped a few minutes later by Jiraiya.
"Hey there!" Jiraiya exclaimed happily.
"Jiraiya, we're on a really really important mission. Easily an S-Rank." Hanara said, stepping forward, "Is this that urgent?"
He got serious immediately and turned to face all six of them.
"I have some disturbing news. The Kaze–"
"We know," Hanara interrupted, "That's where we're going right now."
"Mhmm," Naruto nodded, smiling proudly.
"Now, let's go!" Hanara said urgently, "The sooner we get there, the better!"
'Right! If we go on Pho and her brother, Fuji, we should get there quickly.'
Hanara bit her thumb and performed the Summoning Jutsu twice. After training for so long, it didn't take as much chakra as it used to.
"Pho, Fuji, can you both fly us to the Sand Village?" she asked.
They nodded.
"Okay, Kakashi-Sensei and Naruto, get on Fuji," she told them, pointing at the phoenix, "Sakura, you get on Pho with me."
'Ordering around Kakashi-Sensei, even though he's not my sensei, felt weird…'
"Hold on!" Jiraiya said.
"Every second wasted–"
He cut her off, "This is important. I need a word with Naruto."
Hanara closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.
'This better not be something stupid like warning him about the Akatsuki. He understands that perfectly well.' she thought as Naruto ran to Jiraiya.
Kakashi-Sensei walked up to Hanara.
"You'll lead this mission just fine. In fact, you are already. Don't worry," he said, giving her a closed-eye smile.
She nodded.
"Well, what are you guys waiting for?" Naruto yelled from in front of them, "Come on!"
"You're getting on Fuji, idiot!" Hanara growled.
"Oh, right…" he said sheepishly, running back.
The four got on their respective birds and flew into the afternoon sky.
It had been nearly a full hour of travel, but Naruto was getting anxious and kept not-so-nicely requesting Fuji to go faster.
After the fifth time, Hanara snapped.
"Naruto!," she yelled sharply over the whistling wind, "Fuji is going as fast as he can, and he sure as hell is going faster than you can run. I understand that you're concerned for Gaara, but we're going as fast as we can!"
"Look, I'm sorry, okay! But Gaara's waiting for us, ya know! We have to get there and save him!"
"You disrespecting my summons isn't helping anyone! Pho and Fuji are the fastest phoenixes I have! Quit it, alright!"
"Gaara–"
'For Kami's sake!'
"I don't think you understand, Naruto," Hanara said, her voice dangerously low, "Jiraiya may have let you complain all you want and do things your way, I wouldn't know. However, I won't tolerate anyone disrespecting my phoenixes like this. We are on an extremely important mission, and for some odd reason, I'm in charge of it. Not Kakashi-Sensei, not Sakura, and certainly not you, but me. Fuji is my summoning animal. So, as your mission leader, I'm not requesting you, I'm ordering you to stop distracting Fuji and calm the fuck down, alright?"
Naruto sent Hanara a defiant stare.
"Don't lose your cool," Kakashi told him quietly, "Master Jiraiya taught you better than that, didn't he?"
"Oh boy," Sakura sighed.
Hanara saw movement out of the corner of her eye and immediately turned on her Byakugan.
Noticing the bulge of veins around Hanara's eyes, Sakura asked, "What is it?"
"Temari's flying our way. I don't think she knows..."
"Slow down please, Pho," Sakura said, "You too, Fuji. TEMARI!"
"What're you guys doing heading this way?" Temari asked, hovering in the air on her fan.
Fuji and Pho also started to hover once noticing that.
The four Leaf shinobi shared glances of concern before Hanara hesitantly spoke up.
"We got a distress call from the Sand," she told Temari seriously, "The Kazekage has been taken by the Akatsuki and we're on a mission to help."
Temari gasped and her face betrayed the concern she was feeling for her brother.
"You mean– Gaara–"
She nodded gravely.
"We're a day away from the Sand," Kakashi-Sensei said, gesturing in the direction of the village, "Hanara's birds are fast, but still, we should hurry."
"Pho should be able to take you on, as well, but it'll be a tight fit. We'll get there faster than you will on your fan," Hanara offered.
Temari nodded, all previous emotion gone, "Thank you."
The Sand kunoichi flew closer to Pho and climbed on her. Then, she grabbed her fan and folded it up.
"Come on, Pho, Fuji. Let's go."
