(A/N) Imma just move onto Wave now. It's about time anyway. And I have a very very specific line I really need to write during Wave, it's going to be hilarious.
Mito took her team in for a C-rank, and knew something was up immediately when the very drunk client came in. Something smelled fishy and it wasn't the sushi she and Naruto had for dinner the previous night. The client, Tazuna, was too drunk to tell, but she was fairly sure he was lying about something.
"Could I bring a second team?" She asked the Hokage quietly while the genin squawked a bit about protecting the geezer. "If it goes south I would feel better having a second jounin, even if I could likely handle it fine on my own."
"Go ahead," the Hokage decided after a moment. "I believe you've been working closely with Gai? I believe his team is due for a C-rank soon."
"Thank you," Mito said, bowing shallowly. "Alright guppies, come one, you three need to get home while I run an errand. We'll leave tomorrow at 9 but come early so I can check your packing. Naruto, I'll help you pack later."
"See you then kaa-san!" Naruto chirped, turning and running off for home. Sakura and Sasuke split ways after another moment and Mito turned to the training fields she knew Team Gai could be found at.
"Hey Mito!" Tenten shouted as she got within earshot. "What brings you out this way?" As the girl spoke, an explosion went off behind her. Based on the lack of surprise, Tenten had set the explosion. Mito wasn't surprised, Sakura had been coming in slightly singed from Tenten's experiments with explosions recently.
"Well, I was going to do a C-rank, but I'm rather suspicious it's not going to end up an actual C-rank. I could handle anything, but I'd appreciate it if your team came along to make sure."
"Oh nice," Tenten said, grinning. "Been waiting for a good C-rank to come in. Gotta actually use these explosive tags on something that isn't dummies and my teammates."
"Don't kill your teammates," Mito reminded calmly, looking around for Gai. "Where is your sensei?"
"Running around the village probably," Tenten replied, shrugging. "He does that a lot. Neji went home already with a sprained ankle."
"I hope he feels better," Mito replied politely.
"He doesn't," Tenten said dryly, rolling her eyes. "He'd rather not have to deal with Gai and Lee any more."
"Well I'm sure he can manage having Gai, Lee, and my team," Mito said, not having an ounce of sympathy for the Hyuuga. "I'm going to go find Gai, you have fun. We're leaving tomorrow by the way. At 9."
"I'll drag Neji," Tenten agreed, nodding. "Have fun tracking them down."
"I will," Mito said, smiling. "See you tomorrow."
"You too," Tenten replied, waving and turning to pull some more dummies out of a seal.
Mito concentrated for a bit to extend her senses and track down Gai like that. It was a bit harder because of the large amount of shinobi in Konoha, but he and Lee both had distinctive signatures, so they wouldn't be too hard to find.
Nine o'clock the next morning and she and Naruto arrived at the meeting spot. Sakura and Sasuke were both waiting for them, as was Team Gai. Amusingly, Sakura and Sasuke kept looking at Team Gai like they were unsure as to whether they were supposed to be there or not.
"Thank you for coming," Mito said to Gai, smiling politely. "If you don't mind, we have a half hour before the client arrives and I intend to use it to check Sakura and Sasuke's packing. I trust your team can pack just fine."
"We'd better be able to," Tenten said immediately, looking at Lee significantly.
"I packed according to specifications!" Lee agreed very loudly. "I have not forgotten anything this time!"
Mito chuckled as Tenten started interrogating Lee on what he'd brought. "Alright, Sakura, Sasuke, spread out what you've packed on the ground, let's see it."
They'd both obviously remembered the packing lessons from the academy, bringing everything that was expected for a C-rank.
They got repacked up, and while they did so, Sasuke asked the question. "Why is Team Gai here? It's a C-rank, can't we handle it on our own?"
"Well sure, normally you would be just fine," Mito agreed. "But I suspect the client may have misranked this mission due to a lack of money for a higher ranked mission. I can handle pretty much anything on my own, but I invited Gai and his team along to make sure in my distraction with bigger threats, smaller ones don't get past me and kill you."
"We're just extra security," Tenten added. "Take it as a learning experience, you have us, who've been on loads of C-ranks, to answer questions and stuff."
Naruto seemed completely on board with this, cheerfully bouncing over to chat with Lee. Sakura shrugged and accepted it, laying back and closing her eyes. Sasuke looked grumpy, but he'd live.
"Whaa…" Tazuna said, squinting at them. "You multiplied."
"I requested a second team for this mission," Mito replied, putting on her crowd smile. "Do you have an issue with it?"
"'Course not," the man said hurriedly.
"Wonderful. Let us get a move on," Mito said, gesturing to the gate. "My team, in the back, Gai, can your team take the front?"
"Of course!" Gai agreed enthusiastically. "We shall protect the bridge builder!"
It, as Mito predicted, didn't go all smoothly.
"Wow," Tenten commented casually. "What an odd occurrence. A puddle. When it hasn't rained in this area for weeks. How strange. I'm sure it won't mind if I just…" Tenten wandered up and dropped an explosion tag in the puddle, bringing her hand up to blow it up.
Two nin immediately jumped out of the puddle and attacked her, wrapping chains around her, only to find a log in her place. Tenten reappeared with her teammates, unscathed.
"Would you look at that!" Tenten exclaimed like it was a shock. "I found a couple of idiots!"
"Amazing!" Sakura exclaimed as well, putting her hand on her cheeks. "A miracle, truely."
The nin squinted at the girls like they couldn't figure out they were being insulted before finally attacking Tenten, who nailed one in the head with a kunai, and Neji struck the other in the heart with a Jyuuken strike. Both flopped down like puppets with their strings cut.
Sakura gasped, her face white. Mito put a comforting hand on her shoulder and stared down at the bodies. "It's just the circle of life Sakura. Just the circle of life. Team Gai, you can take those in for bounties on your own time."
"Of course!" Tenten replied, far too cheerfully.
(A/N) I've been waiting to say that for ages. It's as great as I envisioned. Yes I'll be singing circle of life the rest of the day, I hope you're happy. Also, sorry that this is a day late, I had A Day yesterday, and wasn't feeling well (I honestly passed out at like 3-4 in the afternoon and slept until morning) and I was busy all today, so this is the first time I've been on my computer! So you get this now. Good thing few people read this!