"Oi! Iruka-sensei! You came to treat me, right?" asked the young, boisterous teen sitting at his favorite ramen stand. "C'mon, c'mon! The shrimp special is really good today!"
"Settle down, Naruto. It's too early to have so much energy," complained the older chuunin, obviously returning from a late night. "And I'm not here for the food. Hokage-sama wants to see you about something; a mission I think."
That got Naruto's attention. It was quite possibly the only thing that could distract the boy from the potential ramenh feast before him. In a blur of orange, Naruto was off of his stool and running down the street, yelling happily, "Mission! Yeah!"
Iruka was left in the dust to shake his head and smile. So much for the dead last student that had left his class a few years ago. This one was well on his wahy to achieving his dreams and Iruka couldn't be more proud...
"Hey! Someone's gotta pay for the three bowls he ate already!" yelled the proprieter of the stand.
... or more annoyed.
It didn't take long for Naruto to reach Tsunade's office. As a matter of fact, the Hokage's two assistants were busy picking up the tattered remains of the paperwork Naruto had accidentally knocked from their hands as he blew by. Luckily for him, and the crew that would have to clean up the mess afterward, the Tsunade's door was already open when he reached the top of the steps. He barrelled through the open door and into her office, never losing the smile from his face. He didn't even notice the other two sitting in the office on either side of the door, "Hey Tsunade-ba-er, sama," he winced, remembering how many lumps his last slip up had caused him on behalf of the Hokage, "what did you need me for? Is it a mission? I hope it's a good mission. I haven't had a B rank since I got back."
Tsunade simply sighed and shook her head. It wasn't surprising to her that Naruto hadn't changed much. That attitude of his was as much a staplemark of the Uzumaki boy as the whiskers on his cheeks. "Sit down, Naruto and I will explain everything to you three."
"Three?" he asked, finally turning around to see who was ihn the office with him. Sitting, calmly as could be -if you didn't count the occasional twitch of his eye- was Gaara, returned to his garb of old and without his Kage robes. Next to him sat Naruto's goddess and his crush of many years, Haruno Sakura, looking distinctly embarrassed and avoiding looking at him. Uh oh, he must have done something stupid, though for the life of him, he couldn't figure it out. Finally, he sat in the chair between the two familiar faces and gave each of them a smile before turning his attention to Tsunade.
The Hokage began slowlhy, speaking in an almost bored tone that she always seemed to use when discussing anything political or diplomatic, "Fisrt of all, on behalf of Konoha, I must say that we greatly appreciate the aid of the Sand in this endeavour, allowing the Kazekage to join us."
Gaara nodded, showing his usual level of emotion, "We value greatly the alliance we have established with Konoha and wish to strengthen that bond."
"Good," Tsunade grinned, "Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to business. I've called you all here because a rather unique mission has come up that requires your talents, especially those of you two, Naruto and Gaara."
The specific mention of his name caused Naruto to lean forward and give her his rapt attention. If she had singled him and Gaara out specifically, that could only mean one thing. He just hoped she wouldn't mention it in front of Sakura.
"As Gaara already knows, the head councils of the allied villages have finally begun to take notice of certain undesirable elements popping up in our countries. Now, they've left it to us to do something about it as usual. A special team is to be formed based on certain qualifications and using members from each of the four allied villages. Your mission is to travel to the two remaining villages and collect the last members of this team. Once that is done, this new team will receive orders directly from the village leaders as to their next movements."
The Hokage paused in the briefing suddenly and looked at Sakura, "Your role in this, Sakura is to aid Naruto with your medic abilities and fighting skills, as well as keeping him from doing anything horrendously stupid." This got an incredulous look from Naruto and a snort of laughter from both Sakura and Gaara. Now, I need to finish the briefing with these two alone. Please wait outside until I call for you again."
Looking confused, Sakura stood and gave the Hokage a polite bow before exiting the room and closing the door behind her.
"Now, I'm sure you have figured out why you were selected for this mission by now, Naruto." At Naruto's nod, Tsunade continued, "There are others like you. There is a boy in the Stone and a set of twins in the Mist that are affiliated with demons. The particulars will be disclosed at their discretion as will yours. It's up to you how much or your story you share with them, though since they will be your teammates, it may be beneficial for you all to get to know eachother thoroughly."
Naruto folded his arms across his chest and looked at the floor as he spoke, a pose he seemed to have picked up from Jiraya, "I see. So we're to gather them up and form a new cell. That part I understand, but why involve Sakura. She doesn't know about Kyuubi and I'm not sure if I'm ready for her to know."
Holding up her hand to stem any more questions from the young man, Tsunade sat back behind her desk, "First of all, she is already a first class medic nin and will be invaluable to your team in battle. Secondly, each of the others hyou recruit will be given the option to bring someone else with them from their village. It's easier to adjust to a new team when you're not alone. And last of all," she spoke seriously, leaning forward and giving Naruto her famous glare, "it's time she knew, Naruto. She's your team mate. She needs to know who you really are if you two are to reach your full potential as a team. And before you say anything else, Naruto, this is not up for negotiation."
Naruto's retort died on his tongue and he sat back in his chair, "I just hope she's ready to learn that I contain the thing that nearly wiped out this village." It had been hard enough for the boy as he grew up. The whole village looked down on him, but he could handle that. What he couldn't handle was if his last remaining team mate ever looked at him that way.
"Give her some credit Naruto. She's a stronger person now and I highly doubt it will do anything more than surprise her," Tsunade sighed, changing the subject suddenly to avoid arguin with the stubborn boy. "You will leave in two days at dawn for Mist village as it is the closest one. In the meantime, prepare yourselves. You'll be given an advance on your payments to purchase any provisions you may need."
Slowly, Tsunde stood and stared at the two young men before her, "Because this concerns all of the villages and the maintenance of their relationships, this mission is classified as an S rank. Your pay will be given accordingly but more importantly, this will allow us to fight our enemies on a unified front. This is likely to be the most important mission of your lives. I wish you the best."