Notes:

Another friendly reminder to tell you I uploaded two chapters and to make sure you've read chapter 7 before reading this one!

Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Mission Possible

After a few days of resting and training with his team, Team Ro once again got sent out on a mission. While he would never admit it, he found his thoughts regularly shifting to the brown-haired woman that was still in the hospital. He wasn't sure what it was that made him so captivated by her, but he couldn't seem to stop himself from thinking of her. Had she woken up already? Last he heard she was being kept asleep so that she could heal, which told him her wounds were even worse than he had suspected.

He was glad his team was complete again, now that Genma was back. These last couple of days he did spend focusing on their teamwork, as the Hokage had requested. They already worked like a well-oiled machine, but it could never hurt to continue perfecting it as well as they could.

Kakashi looked out of his window not really focusing on anything, letting his mind wander. He was supposed to meet his team in about fifteen minutes and he had yet to finish packing. He sighed as he thought about the mission. Another assassination of some diplomat threatening their country. It would never end, would it? He guessed it didn't really matter. As long as there were people to kill, he'd have a job to do.

He turned his attention back to what he was doing, checking his pack and making sure he had all the essentials with him, before quickly dressing in his Anbu garb. Within a minute he had changed and was out the window. Making his way towards the main gates over the rooftops, he passed the hospital which made him pause. Stopping on the rooftop across from the hospital he gazed to the windows where some of the rooms were lit, illuminating the rooftop he was standing on.

Like a moth drawn to a flame, he found her room. He watched as she sat in the bed, knees drawn up. Supporting the small child against her chest, she seemed to be reading to him, pointing at the page every now and then. So, she had woken up then. He let out a sigh in relief. Wait, relief ? He furrowed his brows at the thought. He didn't know the woman other than their interaction a little over a week ago. Yet, he couldn't seem to shake this warm feeling he got when he realised she had healed up enough to be awake. It did mean she was doing better.

Shaking his head, he turned his gaze away from the woman. He didn't have time for this, his team was waiting. Besides, he shouldn't be feeling anything about any of this. She was in every sense of the word a captive. He knew she would be questioned about what had happened, if they hadn't already done so. There was even a good chance she would be thrown in jail after getting discharged. Other than last week, he had no business with the woman, really. As he turned and jumped towards the next rooftop, he didn't see the curious look in the brown eyes that watched him as he left.

Moments later he stopped in front of his team, who all turned their attention to him. "Did we get the time wrong, boss?" Genma was the first to speak up as he arrived. Of course, they wouldn't outright say he was late, they weren't stupid. The tone of Genma's voice was enough, though. He would always manage to turn everything in a joke, wouldn't he?

"No, you didn't. Got held up." His short reply was blunt, conveying his thoughts on the comment. Kakashi looked at his team, seeing they were all ready he nodded. "Let's go."

He turned towards the exit and sprinted off. He silently cursed himself for being late. He knew they were on a tight schedule. The diplomat would be protected at all times, which only gave them a very small window of accomplishing this mission. It was already planned out, since they knew he was going to be in Iwa in less than three days. Unfortunately it took about the same time to get there, not taking in any breaks, so they really hadn't had any time for delays.

Luckily his team was used to him pushing their limits and didn't utter a sound as they followed him. They already discussed beforehand what the tactics and formations were, so he knew he didn't have to say anything about it unless something changed. He didn't expect anything to happen, but he knew that meant fuck all. Last time everything went to shit when he didn't expect anything to happen. He wouldn't make that mistake again, that's for sure.

While the mission was extremely important, the journey was very much uneventful. Or as Kakashi liked to put it; boring as hell. It didn't mean he wasn't alert. He definitely was. He was aware of pretty much everything. From the wind blowing and the scents in the air, to the animals moving about in the forest. Most importantly, he was very much aware of the chakra signatures in the area. At the moment the only signatures he sensed were of his team, which was good. As long as they were the only ones, they're in the clear.

Team Ro didn't run into any complications on the way to Iwa, successfully infiltrating the village. They managed to arrive at their destination with an hour or two to spare. He took this time to go over the plan one last time, making sure everything was in order. It was extremely important this assassination couldn't be traced back to Konoha, so they had to make sure nothing would be traced back to them. He looked around the room they were in, making sure nothing was out of place.

Kakashi felt the adrenaline course through his body. The moments right before always managed to get his blood pumping in the best way possible, like a drug. These missions were what made him feel alive, really. He knew his team felt the same way. This kind of action, it gave all of them a kick. Of course, none of them enjoyed killing. They weren't monsters. They were, however, good at their job, which is why they almost always got assigned the assassinations. Between all of them they had the perfect skill set for missions like these.

"Senpai, it's time."

Kakashi turned his head towards his kohai, giving him a nod. "Alright. Let's get into position. You know what to do. Simple in and out. Make sure you're not seen. If you are, leave no witnesses." He ordered.

"Yessir." His team responded.

"Good. Move out." He said with a flick of his hand.

The days moved slowly for Hermione. Since she was stuck in the hospital bed, surrounded with people that didn't speak her language, she was absolutely bored out of her mind. She was glad she had Teddy and her books to keep her mind busy. They had yet to let her know what would happen to her after she was released from the hospital. She had asked Inoichi that same question when he had returned the next day, but he skillfully deflected the question and thus leaving her with no answers.

Luckily the staff in the hospital seemed to understand her frustrations with being bedridden and not being able to communicate properly. Somehow both parties seemed to manage to communicate non-verbally, at least to the point she knew when they wanted to check her vitals or her wound. Asking with a thumbs up or down how she was feeling and her responding in a similar way.

It had been a bit difficult in the beginning. Especially when the doctors saw the state of her wound, after having applied the dittany to it. Of course, she had no way of explaining and she didn't know what they knew about her situation. She ended up shrugging in response. Apparently they had expressed their confusion to Inoichi when he came back, as he was the only one in the vicinity that seemed to speak her language. He ended up becoming a translator for both parties while he was there.

Hermione sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time that morning. She couldn't wait to get out of here. From what she understood, her wound was pretty much healed so there wasn't any reason for her to stay in the hospital any longer. The only thing that remained were her stitches. She wondered what it was that made them keep her there, if it wasn't for her injuries. She impatiently tapped her fingers on the bed as she zoned out. If only she had her wand. She'd be out of here in a blink of an eye.

She came back to reality when there was a knock on her door. Staying silent, she waited for whoever it was to either enter or leave. They'd probably enter anyways, she had learned quite quickly they didn't really care for her privacy as they'd probably already seen it all when she was in surgery. She gazed intently at the door as it opened, revealing someone she hadn't seen before. It was an older man, wearing a white robe. Definitely not a doctor, she concluded. He actually reminded her a bit of professor Dumbledore. Maybe this was the leader she had heard about?

"Good morning, Granger-san." The man greeted her with a kind voice while giving her a smile.

"Hi," she responded shyly, her earlier confidence disappearing. It was something about his presence. It was definitely like Dumbledore. He may look kind, but he was without a doubt extremely powerful. People like this just had an air around them. It demanded respect, whether it was intentional or not.

"My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen. I'm the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha ." He introduced himself. "And if I'm correct, you're Granger Hermione and the little boy over there is Lupin Teddy?"

Hermione blinked at that, before reminding herself to respond. She realised quite quickly she should not be rude to this man. If he really was the leader of this village, he would be one to decide what would happen to her. "Um, yes. That's correct, um, sir?" She ended questioningly. While she had learned how to address people formally, like Inoichi-san, she wasn't sure how to address this man. The last thing she wanted was to insult him.

But the man didn't seem to mind, chuckling softly. "Inoichi told me he explained some things to you, like how to address people. From what I understood he explained to address people with the 'san' suffix. However, for people with a higher status than your own, we add the 'sama' suffix." He explained.

She slowly nodded in understanding. "So," she started slowly. "That would be used in your case?" She asked, "but, I have a feeling it wouldn't be proper to just call you by your name, like I would with Inoichi-san."

"You're very much correct on that," he said smiling. "In my case, you use my title."

"Right, I think I've got it." She said, "so, I would address you with ' Hokage-sama ' then."

The Hokage hummed at that, "Exactly." Walking towards the chair that was standing next to her bed, he gestured towards it, "do you mind?"

Hermione quickly sat up in bed, making some more room for him to sit next to her bed by lifting her legs up, "O-of course not, sir, um, Hokage-sama . Please," she said nervously.

Letting out another chuckle, which she felt was definitely at her expense, he moved to her side. "Please relax, Granger-san. "

As the man moved to sit down she heard Teddy starting to babble, indicating that he had woken up. She moved to pick him up, but stopped as the Hokage held his hand up. "Ah," he said. "Please, let me. It'll give a bit of practise." He bent down and lifted Teddy up, cradling him in his arms.

"Practise?" Hermione couldn't help but ask, as the curiosity got the better of her.

"Ah, yes. It seems I'm going to be a grandfather in a couple of months." The Hokage explained proudly. "And it's been many years since I've held a child this small. I always seem to forget how small they are at this age."

"Ah, congratulations then," she said smiling. It was actually quite interesting to see this side of the village leader. All she'd seen so far were hardened men who tried to show little to no emotion. Inoichi being the only one up until this point who even seemed human.

"Thank you," he responded with a smile as he sat down. "Now, while I don't mind the break from all the paperwork, I did come here with a reason." He turned his gaze from Teddy towards her, face suddenly serious.

Hermione swallowed at that, feeling the previous mood dissipate. She was expecting this, obviously. It didn't make it less frightening, though. She stayed silent, waiting for him to tell her whatever it was he came here to say. No matter what, however, she would be strong. She would meet any and all challenges they would throw at her head-on. She wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing, now was she? So, bring it on, she thought.

Kakashi swiftly moved through the streets of Iwa, keeping to the shadows. At this time of night in Iwa there was almost no light on the streets, making it easier to blend in. He scoffed at how easy it had been for them to enter the village without being seen. He had to admit that it did make their job much easier.

Within a minute or two he reached his destination. Waiting for his teammates to get into position. The plan was simple enough. Tenzou, Yugao and Genma were on the look-out, covering the large area, and Shisui would clear the way to their target as he prepared himself. After it was clear, Tenzou would join him inside. He only had to wait a moment before the all-clear signal was given, spurring him into action. "Move in."

Opening his left eye, he covertly moved inside through an open window. The Sharingan coming in handy for spotting any chakra signatures. He noticed there were two guards outside the diplomats room. Adding those two to the three that were patrolling the hallways, he made quick calculations on how to bypass them. Shisui was on the same page, creating a small distraction for him. One of the guards stepped away to investigate said distraction and Kakashi appeared in front of the one that stayed, quickly putting him under a genjutsu.

Moving past the guard, he carefully checked the door handle, finding it locked. He had expected it, but a small part of him had secretly hoped it had been unlocked. Pulling out a small pin, he lowered himself to the ground and put the pin inside the lock expertly unlocking it within a few seconds. As he heard a soft 'click', he stood back up and silently opened the door, eyeing the room.

Sneaking inside, he closed the door behind him and locked it once more. He stealthily made his way through the room, he heard sounds coming from behind the bedroom door. Oh man, he so did not need to hear this, he silently groaned as he heard moans coming from inside the bedroom. Why did he have to witness this? They had surveyed the building and the people inside it as the diplomat arrived, and they knew the woman would be there. They had decided to use her as a scapegoat, but he didn't think she'd actually open her legs for an old man like that. Not that it mattered, really. He had a mission to accomplish and he would do just that.

He silently made his way to the door and slowly opened it. Cursing himself for not closing the eye that held his Sharingan, he now had the image of an old man's wrinkly ass etched into his mind. Permanently. That's just great, really. Just what he needed. He now knew what he was going to be doing when he got back. Getting absolutely shitfaced in order to try and forget that image, which wouldn't work. He knew that. But it was worth a shot.

The position the couple was in, did actually work in his advantage. With both their backs towards the door, they never saw him coming. Taking out a kunai, he moved forward and quickly slashed the man's throat. As he did so, he felt the kunai touch the man's cervical vertebra. Good, the quicker he bled out, the better.

Not sparing another moment, he turned to the woman as she looked over her shoulder. As her eyes widened, she fully turned herself around which caused the man's blood to spray all over her front. Not waiting another second, he placed a genjutsu on her to make her forget him and make her believe she had killed her so-called lover. He then handed her his kunai. With that taken care of, he disappeared from the room. A moment later a high-pitched scream was heard throughout the building, followed by lots of yelling.

He waited outside the room for a second, listening. He heard the guards shouting at each other, to grab the woman and kill her for what she'd done. Well, that's that then. With her dead, there was no possible way to track it back to them. Mission accomplished, he concluded. Now to get the hell out of here.

Kakashi met his team just outside the property. Without another word, they disappeared into the night. Having already planned their escape route beforehand, they made a swift exit from the village. Setting the pace at full speed, they were making good time on their way back. Half a day later, he decided it was safe for them to take a quick break.

As they neared the border, the dry landscape slowly became greener, which gave Kakashi the opportunity to find a sheltered spot where they could stop. Hopefully near a river, so they could refill their bottles. A moment later, Tenzou came up next to him.

"There's a river about half a mile west of here. You want to stop there?"

"Not right away," he answered. "Let's follow the river for a little while and find a secluded spot to stop."

"Got it." Tenzou replied, leading them towards the river.

After they had found a good spot they quickly washed up, not staying longer than five minutes. They again made sure not to leave any traces. Kakashi looked up to the sky, calculating how long it would take to get back to Konoha from where they were. Seeing as they had already travelled for about half a day, he figured they would reach the village in about two and a half days. If they pushed it a bit, they'd be back within two days, maybe a bit less.

Looking at his team, he saw all of them were still perfectly fine. Good. That meant they could step it up a bit. He kept in mind that he shouldn't overdo it, the events of their last mission still etched into his mind. He wasn't going to be carrying any half dead teammates this time around.

"Alright. Everyone ready?" He asked.

They all gave a nod, which he returned. "Good. Let's get going then. I've got a bottle of sake waiting with my name on it."

Genma let out a laugh at that as they all started running. "Oh man, boss, I kinda feel sorry for you. At least a little. Was she at least hot? That usually makes it a bit manageable, y'know looking at a fine female specimen."

Kakashi let out a groan at that. "Please don't make me think about this any longer, Genma. It doesn't matter if she was hot or not. Next time we have an assassination where the target's busy fucking someone, you can go and enjoy the view."

"Heh, only if the woman's hot." Genma countered. "Otherwise there's no way I'm gonna-"

"Genma. That wasn't an offer. Next time our target is busy fucking someone, you get to kill them. And I sincerely hope they're both going to be ugly as hell."

"Ouch, that's just harsh, boss." Genma replied, putting a hand over his heart. "And here I thought you cared about me."

"Get bent, Genma." Kakashi retorted, moving to his side and giving him a hard shove which almost resulted in Genma hitting a tree. He noticed the rest of the team following their interaction with great amusement. "And not a word out of any of you about this. I don't want to hear it. Otherwise you can also expect the same fate dear old Genma is getting."

"Hey! I'm not old!" Came from behind him, but Kakashi chose to ignore it. He gave his team one last look as a warning before turning and leading them towards the Fire country. Mentally counting down the hours it would take before he was home. He really, really needed that drink.