Kiriyama Mitsuko walks silently down the hall to the office of the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade. :What can possibly be so urgent that Tsunade-sama called me out this early in the morning: Arriving in front of the doors to the Fifth's office, Mitsuko knocks on the door.

"Come in." Tsunade says, her voice tired and irritable.

"Ohaiyo gozaimasu Tsunade-sama. What is the emergency that you have called me here for?" Mitsuko asks politely.

Tsunade letting out a sigh, replies, "It was reported this morning that Uchiha Sasuke has left Konoha with a group of sound ninjas, whom are most likely to be henchmen of Orochimaru."

Upon hearing such news, Mitsuko stands speechless in disbelief. Tsunade continues, "I am sending you on a mission to track down Uchiha, and get him back here in any means possible."

"This cannot be true! Uchiha Sasuke cannot possibly go off with Orochimaru!" Mitsuko exclaims, she trembles with anger as she speaks.

"Well, he did, and it's pointless for us to chat about it here. You have an hour to gather as many Genins you may want to bring with you on this mission, but choose wisely, this is an S-ranked mission, lives are on the line here."

"Why Genins? Such a mission requires at least Chuunin participation." Mitsuko asks.

"Unfortunately there aren't any Chuunins available in Konoha at this moment, needless to say Jounins. Now hurry, we must initiate this mission as soon as possible.

"Understood, Tsunade-sama."

"Before you go, I do have a particular person in mind for this mission's purpose…"

('o')

Mitsuko dashes swiftly through the village with streams of thoughts running within her mind. :How can Sasuke-kun leave Konoha? More importantly, how can Tsunade-sama recommend Naruto to go on this mission? With his reckless behaviour, we will definitely be impeded in our actions, has that lady gone senile:

Arriving at Naruto's apartment, Mitsuko slams her fist against the door. "Uzumaki Naruto! Get out here this instant, this is an emergency!"

The door opens as a half-asleep Naruto walks out of the door. Still in his pajamas, he mutters, "Nan dayo?"

"Naruto-kun, Tsunade-sama has specifically instructed me to…" Misuko was interrupted by Naruto's snoring as he has fallen asleep standing.

Enraged by Naruto's ridiculous behaviour, Mitsuko yells, "Your friend Uchiha Sasuke left the village with Orochimaru's henchmen last night! Wake your ass up now we have to go after him before anything bad happens!"

Naruto immediately regain his consciousness, "You can't be serious. Kuso! That idiot! I'll be back in a sec." Naruto runs back into his apartment, he returns in three minutes dressed and ready to go."

"Alright, come with me." Mitsuko says as she runs towards another direction.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Naruto asks as he runs to catch up.

"You didn't think you're the only person I'm bringing with me on this mission did you? Just follow me and shut up."

('o')

Soon enough, Mitsuko and Naruto arrived at the Hyuuga residence.

"Hey Mitsuko-chan, are you thinking about bringing Hyuuga Neji with us on this mission?" Naruto asks.

"Not quite…" Mitsuko answers as she walks into the entrance of the Hyuuga estate.

"Ano… You're not thinking about bringing Hinata-chan are you?" Naruto asks, sounding surprised.

"That is who I'm thinking of, her Byakugan abilities will definitely come in handy in this mission." Mitsuko replies. "Why, do you have a problem with it?"

"No… I like Hinata-chan and everything, but I would think Neji is a much potent fighter…" Naruto says.

"This is true, although this mission isn't all about fighting skills. I believe Hinata-chan is a much better team worker than Neji is, and anyways, I'm the leader." Mitsuko continues walking and finds Hyuuga Hinata outside in the garden practicing her Jyuuken.

"Mitsuko-chan? Naruto-kun? Why are you two here…?" Hinata asks shyly.

"I've been ordered by the Hokage to go on a mission to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke, he was reported to leave the village last night with a group relating to Orochimaru. I'm here because I'd like to ask for you to come along with us in this mission." Mitsuko explains.

"Me…? Are you sure you want me in your team…?" Hinata says with uncertainty in her voice.

"Yes I am quite sure, but please give me your decision because we have no time to lose." Mitsuko says to Hinata, sounding a bit rushed.

"Come on Hinata-chan! It'll be great having you with us!" Naruto says goofily.

Hinata blushes in response to Naruto. :If I go on this mission I may be able to prove myself and get Naruto-kun to recognize me…: "Okay… I will go with you but I need a few minutes to get ready…" Hinata runs back into her house to get ready, within a few minutes she runs back out and was ready to go.

"Okay, now everyone follow me." Mitsuko says and runs off.

"Alright! Iku yo Hinata-chan!" Naruto grabs Hinata's arm and drags her along.

('o')

"Who else are you bringing along Mitsuko-chan?" Naruto asks.

"You'll see…" Mitsuko stops in front of a flower shop.

"This is the Yamanaka flower shop… you're thinking about bringing Ino-chan?" Naruto asks, again in a surprising tone.

"Yes Naruto, you sure have a lot of problems with my decisions." Mitsuko ignores Naruto's remark and proceeds into the flowershop.

Inside, Yamanaka Ino sits by the store counter. She's drifted off to sleep, muttering something in her sleep, "Sasuke-kun… would you like to deflower… I mean buy some flowers from me…?"

Mitsuko clears her throat loudly, waking up Ino. "Huh? What are you guys doing here?"

Mitsuko quickly goes over the situation with Ino. "You are kidding! My Sasuke-kun will never do something like that!"

"Well, are you going to come along with us?" Mitsuko asks, sounding a bit annoyed.

"Oh of course! I'm going to bring you back Sasuke-kun, don't you worry! I'm going to run back home and grab a few items, I'll meet you guys at the village gate okay?" Ino disappears into the backroom, "Okasan, I'm going to be away for a while…"

('o')

"Okay, we have time to find one more person." Mitsuko says as she approaches the main entrance of the village.

"So… who is this last team-mate going to be Mitsuko-chan?" Hinata asks quietly from behind.

"Ah, there they are." Mitsuko slows down and points out the couple that she was referring to. From afar the team can see two figures walking down the big staircase near the Konoha entrance.

"Hey it's Bushy Eyebrows! And Tenten-chan!" Naruto yells out, sounding excited.

"Yes I believe all of us can recognize those two without your help, Naruto." Mitsuko says as she walks towards the Lee and Tenten.

"Mitsuko-chan? Naruto-chan? Why are you guys here?" Lee says as he slowly walks toward them with his crutches.

"And Hinata-chan too! Is something going on here?" Tenten asks curiously.

"Yes something is going on! We're going to mmmh mmmuh…" Naruto's mouth gets muffled by Mitsuko's hand.

"I believe I'm the team leader here… anyways, Uichiha Sasuke left the village last night with Orochimaru's henchmen, the Hokage commanded me to bring along a few genins on a mission to get Sasuke back immediately. And so being said, I came to you guys to ask for assistance, would you two be willing to come with us on this mission?" Mitsuko explains, and lets go of Naruto's mouth leaving him gasping for air.

"Uichiha Sasuke you said!" Lee says, his facial expression shows his disbelief for the situation. "I…" Lee looks at his crutches as he stopped talking.

"Lee, don't force yourself. Leave this one to me okay?" Tenten says sympathetically.

"Arigato gozaimasu Tenten. As soon as I get better, I will catch up to you guys and help, I promise." Lee says with a bit of excitement in his voice, doing his 'nice guy pose'.

"Cool, definitely." Tenten says, now turning to Mitsuko, "I'm ready to go when you are!"

"Great! Now let's head to the village gate and find Ino, after a short briefing we will initiate the mission immediately." Mitsuko says, preparing to take off.

"Joto matte!" Naruto shouts.

"Now what?" Mitsuko murmurs, as she's getting very annoyed.

"This means I'm the only guy in the team!" Naruto complains.

"Yes, you are. If I had a choice, I wouldn't even put you in my team. So stop whining and let's go." Mitsuko runs off, with the other team members following.

"Naruto-kun, let's go…" Hinata says.

"Mmmm…" Naruto follows unwillingly.

Meanwhile…

Lee stands in front of the big staircase as he thinks. :I must get better for the sake of everyone: He lets go of his crutches and attempts to climb the stairs, when he was interrupted by a loud female voice.

"Lee! This isn't the time yet. You should take adequate time to recover before trying anything." A female figure emerges from the distance, it's Tsunade walking towards Lee.

"Hokage-sama." Lee greets her politely.

"Come on Lee, we'll train later. I've concocted a new medicine for you, come back to the hospital with me." Tsunade says kindly.

"Hai! Hokage-sama!" Lee follows Tsunade off.