Naruto's entire body was trembling angrily as he stood in front of the room Sasuke had exited several minutes before. The room was completely bare, as were the orders. From where he was leaning against the wall of the Hokage's manor, he could see into the only halfway cleaned room that Naruto had been assigned. A slight smirk came to his lips briefly as he saw Naruto's fists ball up at his sides.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto spun around and stomped his way over to where Kakashi was crouched a few feet from the rooms, his nose buried in his book. He looked up briefly as Naruto approached and then looked back down. Naruto stopped in front of his teacher. "Sasuke cheated!"

Sasuke looked over to where his rival and his lover were, quirking an eyebrow. "Idiot...how could I cheat at something like this?"

Kakashi looked up again as Naruto turned his head to glare over his shoulder at Sasuke. "Naruto-kun...this wasn't a competition. All you needed to do was clean the room. Since you are out here I assume you are finished..."

Naruto's eyebrows twitched as he slowly spun his head back around to face Kakashi. "Ano...actually..."

Before Naruto could say anything more Sakura came out of her room, wiping sweat from her brow onto the back of her wrist. "Done...I can't believe the Hokage had so many files on everyone in the village."

The smirk returned to Sasuke's face, "Looks like you came in last Naruto..."

At this realization Naruto fell over and laid in a pile of twitching limbs at Kakashi's feet. As Sakura passed by the room Naruto had been assigned on her way to Sasuke's side she almost fell over as well.

"NARUTO! What have you been doing?? This room isn't even close to being done!" Sakura glared at the twitching mass for several seconds before turned and smiling towards Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun...you finished so quickly. So impressive," she cooed as she made her way over to his side.

Kakashi stood up and closed his book. "Naruto..you can't leave until you finish." He stuffed his right hand in his pocket and walked past him towards the other two members of his team, book still up in front of his face. "Everyone else gets to go home."

"WHAT!?!" Naruto leapt to his feet and hurried after Kakashi.

Kakashi stopped and looked over his shoulder at Naruto. "You failed to finish the mission. What would happen if this was a field mission and completion meant the difference between a person living and dying? Your person would be dead."

A sudden look of determination washed over naruto's face and he rushed into his room. Kakashi smiled a little and walked the rest of the way to where Sasuke and Sakura were waiting. He lowered his book, placing it in the pocket of his vest. "Today's mission is over. We can leave Naruto to..."

"Kakashi!"

Kakashi stopped as he heard his name being called, the tone of voice sounding urgent. He looked at the running form of one of the ninjas that served the Hokage. "Yes?"

The ninja stopped just in front of Kakashi, "You need to meet with Hokage-sama immediately. I believe she has an urgent mission for you."

Kakashi nodded and stepped past his team members. "That is all for today..." He disappeared from sight along with the other ninja, leaving Sasuke and Sakura standing there looking curiously at the space he had previously filled.

Sasuke was particularly interested but he just shrugged it off and pushed himself away from the wall with his foot. He started to walk down the hallway towards the door, silently hoping that Sakura wouldn't follow. His hopes were dashed though as she trotted up behind him. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and tried to ignore her as she came up next to him and started to jabber on about things that he wasn't really concerned about.

As he exited the manor he stopped at the top of the stairs and his eyes narrowed as he caught a glimpse of a robbed figure standing atop a nearby house. His brother was still in the area and it gave Sasuke a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He pushed the feeling away as he started down the stairs.

Kakashi took the letter Tsunade was handing him and opened it slowly. His eyes scanned it and when he was done he looked up at the Hokage, his eyes cold and angry. "Who sent this?"

Tsunade shook her head. "I found it on my desk this morning. I thought it might be a prank but then I decided it would be best to bring it to your attention..." Her face was stern as she leaned forward on her desk a little. "Does anything in this letter hold any truth? It would be best if you came clean right now...otherwise you put their lives in danger."

Kakashi crumbled the note in his hand but didn't drop it. "It's true...but I refuse to take action against a letter that might not hold any real threat."

"And what if it does? Can you really take that chance?" Tsunade stood up and put her arms behind her back as she walked to her window. "Kakashi...do as the letter says and confirm its level of honesty. At least then you will be safe. Perhaps it will turn out to be a hoax just as you say." She turned and looked him in the eye. "I'm not going to mention this to anyone...because it is none of my business how you lead your personal life." She looked back out the window. "Let me know what you decide..."

Kakashi turned and left the room. Once he shut the door behind him he opened the letter back up and stared down at it, not really reading it, but just staring at the letters on the page. He had a hard time believing what it said was real, but he didn't want to take that chance, just as Tsunade had said. He had too much to lose if he did that.

Stuffing the note in the same pocket as his book, Kakashi walked out of the manor and stopped just as Sasuke had moments before to stare at the person a few houses away. "If this was your doing I'll kill you..." He whispered before turning and walking down the stairs so that he could start heading towards the destination specified in the note.

The words in the note replayed over and over in his head:

To the Hokage of Konoha:

We have a request. It would be in the best interests of your village to do as we ask. Otherwise certain parties under your command will be faced with consequences we cannot discuss in a letter.

We wish to meet with Hatake Kakashi on the outskirts of Konoha Village by sundown. We have certain matters that need to be discussed. If he does not show, we will take the life of the one he loves most and is currently in a secret relationship with. Uchiha Sasuke. He is to come alone or else the deal to spare the boy's life becomes nullified.

Further details regarding the time and place are printed on the back of this letter.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Kakashi wasn't sure whether to trust this strange letter, but the fact that someone knew about his relationship with Sasuke was unnerving to say the least. They had been very careful about not revealing it and yet at some point, they had been discovered. He wasn't sure what different that made, or what this meeting was about with these mystery people, but he was going to take Tsunade's advice and meet them. He wondered why they had sent the letter to her instead of going directly to him, but he figured he would find out eventually.

The time of the meeting was drawing close so Kakashi headed in the direction that the letter specified. He would do as the letter asked but he would not be mentioning it to Sasuke. The boy had been under enough stress worrying about what Itachi was up to. Kakashi's mind then traveled to the older Uchiha. If he was somehow involved in this Kakashi would make Itachi's life a living hell. Kakashi couldn't picture this being something Itachi would do however. For some reason this tactic had a familiar feel to it, but Kakashi just couldn't place it.

Kakashi sprinted towards the destination. He kept his guard up and searched for any sign of traps along the way. He also kept on the alert for any signs of other ninja's in the area. He wouldn't put some kind of an ambush past the senders of the letter. The sun was getting lower and lower on the horizon and Kakashi was running out of time. Luckily the end was in sight.

He reached the meeting place just as the sun dipped below the trees. For once, he was right on time. He was never late to important things. And this ranked right up there with a high priority mission. He wouldn't let anyone lay a hand on Sasuke. He stood in the spot that he was told to in the letter and waited. He didn't have to wait very long however.

"Hatake Kakashi...we have a score to settle with you..." a familiar voice hissed at him.

Kakashi turned to look in the direction the voice had come and just managed to avoid the kunai that flew by his head by inches. This wasn't going to go over well.

"What do you want?" Kakashi leapt into the air to avoid two more kunai and landed on a low hanging tree branch.

"For you to suffer as much as we have..." More kunai flew at him, this time from all directions. More then he was able to dodge.


Next chapter out soon! Please review!