A/N: Well, this chapter is a little longer, I suppose, but I'm not sure how it turned out…. I'm trying to keep the characters as true to Kishimoto as possible, but I found that to be a little harder in this chapter…. Well, I hope you all like it anyway. Enjoy.

Oh. And I now have a shrine to which I bow to in honor of Kishimoto-san, since I seem to keep bowing to him…. He is the rightful owner of Naruto.

"..." speech

("italics") thought

boom - sound effects

Chapter Four: Missions

"Alright. Looks like we're done for today. You're dismissed."

Kakashi disappeared in a flash, off to complete his newest mission as team seven's present mission came to a close. They had just finished babysitting a rather ruthless seven-year-old, but they didn't seem any worse for the wear. Well, other than a few scratches Naruto had gained falling out of a fourth-story window into a tree. No one actually saw how exactly he had fallen, other than that little monster, and Naruto refused to talk about it. His agitation was evident as Naruto walked, arms crossed, with the others through the darkening streets of Konoha. The sun had just begun to set and the light filtered through the tight gaps between the buildings. Shadows engulfed the street, but as the team passed each alleyway, they were bathed in orange light.

"Naruto, come on, he's only seven." Sakura tried to console the pouting blond as they walked along the deserted street. "Some kids just have that biting stage." She sounded sincere, but that tell tale eyebrow twitch behind her smile gave away her real thoughts. Her mind flashed back to when the little creep had bitten her own arm.

(Inner Sakura: "Damn kid!" –motions fist! -)

Naruto just grumbled to himself, the vein on his temple becoming evermore prominent. "Stupid kid…."

Sakura gave Naruto a sideward glance of annoyance before drifting off into her own rantings. "Sigh. I guess have to admit, even I'm getting tired of these low-level missions."

Sasuke just nodded in his usual brooding fashion, hands presently occupying his pockets. "Yeah."

Suddenly, Naruto's expression changed. A wide smile spread across his face mischievously. "Well, we still have our own mission."

They all stopped. Sasuke and Sakura looked over to him. It was evident from their faces that they had almost forgotten the agreement of the day before with all the commotion with the brat.

The group had stopped just in the path of a bright orange stream of light. The sun's last rays put a halo around the blonde's already beaming hair. The light coming from behind him, his face was shadowed, but that didn't stop his icy eyes from glowing in their sockets. All of his white teeth were visible, his lips pulled into a large smile. He pulled in close to the other two as if avoiding being heard, although there was no one around for quite a ways. "Hee hee hee. I was thinking last night and I know where we can start looking into that girl."

(Thinking…?) Sakura and Sasuke thought together, eyebrows rising in unison. Naruto had been thinking. This could not be a good sign.

Naruto failed to note their suspicious looks and still wore that mischievous grin. "Hee hee hee. Just meet me at the Hokage mountain viewpoint in two hours."

"But Naru…" Sakura had barely gotten a word out when Naruto took off in the direction of his apartment, disappearing among some of the shadows only to appear again meters away, orange light reflecting luminously off of his hair until he turned a corner and was out of her view.

Sakura stared off at him for a moment before she moved her hands to her hips dejectedly. "Now what could that idiot be planning?"

Sakura then turned as she sensed the movement of the dark form next to her. Sasuke had begun to walk off onto one of the darker side streets, taking long strides with his hands in his pockets as always. He waved to the girl behind him with one smooth motion and made a small grunt which could have been interpreted as "Later."

Left alone, the pink-haired girl felt a little lonely being abandoned by her teammates so suddenly. Although she would have liked to follow the raven-haired boy, she began her own journey home, thinking it best to get there before dinner.

XXXXXXXXX

(Not too far away)

XXXXXXXXX

Pa-chink. The door closed with a small noise, though the figure that had just walked through the entrance hadn't made a sound, even with the heeled boots she wore.

"You called for me, Tsunade-sama? Excuse me. 'Godaime-sama.'"

The orange light from the sunset flowed in through the large windows in the Hokage's office, stretching long shadows on the floor. Tsunade sat, back to the dying sun with her chin resting on her hand, leaning over her large desk. It really was hard to believe that this woman was in her fifties. She had pale blonde hair, pulled in pigtails that flowed over her shoulders and, in her present position, her excessive cleavage was easily noted, though her bust could almost always be noted due to sheer size. Her youthful face and amber eyes held her usual annoyed expression, which could have been expected considering all the paperwork that was strewn out in front of her. Although she was lit from the back by the sun and an orange glow resided around her, a small desk lamp shined before her with just enough luminescence to make her face and paperwork clearly visible. Along the sidewall hung the four stoic faces of the four former Hokage, watching over the newest guardian of the village they had each lived and died for.

Ghost stood before the Hokage, her raven hair reflected the strong light making the strands resemble black ash among so many dying embers. Her gray clothing took on an orange hue and her leather boots and gloves, worn as they were, shined dully. At fist glance, her scars looked even more ghastly due to the strong shadows. Should stood, arms at her sides, in one of the most formal of stances, though she held it loosely. Her face, hidden by an eerie white mask, now glowing in the light, bowed slightly to Tsunade. She spoke without the mocking tone which she usually saved for Kakashi and gave her superior the proper respect. In the end, she really was a very dedicated ninja, as Kakashi had said, and she held a certain standard for formality. However, this sometimes had the unfortunate effect of making her sound very cold.

Tsunade shifted in her seat, leaning back into a more comfortable position before speaking. "Yes, I sent for you. I'm glad to see that you came so quickly, though Kakashi told me this morning that you had actually arrived early yesterday."

Ghost's neck bent forward in a minute bow. "I apologize, Godaime-sama."

Tsunade waved a hand in false irritation, disregarding the statement. She spoke lazily, "No need to apologize. I had expected that you would like to take a look around after the past year. I must admit that I did the same not long ago, before I formally took the position as Hokage." Tsunade's lips curled slightly in an understanding smile.

Ghost didn't know how to react and simply nodded. She was surprised to hear this new Hokage speaking so casually. But then her mind wandered back to the reason she had come. "And then you sent for me." She blurted out.

Tsunade sighed to herself. It looked like it was down to business already… just when she had an excuse to get away from all that mind-numbing paperwork. She leaned forward and pulled a file from a large stack as she spoke. "Yes. I have a new mission for you. I have read your file and I am well aware of your position and your present mission, but I believe this will associate nicely with what you have been previously assigned." She opened the small folder. "The 'Ghost of Konoha.' You actually prefer to be called 'Ghost,' correct?"

Tsunade's eyes flashed from the file to the young girl before her.

Ghost nodded in response and Tsunade returned to the papers in front of her.

She took out a pen and began to write a few notes in the file, updating her current mission status. "For your next mission I am assigning you to watch over both Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. You already know about the situation with Akatsuki and Orochimaru…. We can't take any chances right now, but we don't want to alarm the boys. I'd like to leave them as they are for now, until we know more about what's going on. Kakashi will continue to train them, but I'd like for you to be there, just as a precaution. You should work well with Kakashi, judging by your history."

"Is that why I was chosen for this mission?" Ghost spoke suddenly.

Tsunade looked up from her notes at the girl with a suggestive smile.

"Among other reasons…." Tsunade then packed up the file slowly, dreading the other piles and piles of paperwork. "You start immediately. Dismissed."

"Yes, Ma'am."

While they were talking, neither of them had noticed how dark it had become. The orange had burned down to a very dull pink on the horizon, though that small bit of color was just about to be engulfed by fading shades of blue. The small desk lamp produced all the light left in the room. Ghost now made a mental note of the darkness as she turned to face the door. A sudden thought came to her. She turned back to see Tsunade looking down upon her work, her face in contrast between the desk lamp's light and the shadows which gathered on any surface opposite the light source.

"Godaime-sama." She hated to interrupt her. Tsunade looked up at her, a curious expression upon her face. Ghost's body language had changed. She stood more rigid than before, her fists held more tightly, but her body was steady. Her mask stared more directly toward the ground, rather than into Tsunade's face.

"I just have one question…."

XXXXXXXXX

(Less than 2 hours later at the Hokage mountain viewpoint.)

XXXXXXXXX

Indeed, it had been two hours since Naruto had skipped off into the distance, practically giddy about whatever plan he had concocted to find out more about this 'Ghost' and now the other two shinobi were stumbling up the steps to the viewpoint in the dark. Sakura and Sasuke had met along the way, to Sakura's great joy, not that Sasuke said anything to her other than a short "Yo," or maybe a "Let's go." As they reached the top, it was almost impossible to see anything. Sure, there were a few dim lights down in the village, but up here on the viewpoint, above everything, it was far too dark. Sakura could barely see Sasuke, dressed in black. She just made out where he was because he had a bit of an outline where he skin showed. Dark clothes or not, Sasuke was still deathly pale.

Sakura was the first to speak as she stepped forward blindly. "Now where the heck is Naruto? You'd think that orange idiot would practically glow in the dark in that suit."

Sasuke and Sakura heard before they, well, heard Naruto. Right after Sakura spoke, they heard his feet move across the tile and a low chuckle from him.

"Right here, Sakura-chan." Sakura turned just a little to her left, where she had perceived the noise to have come from, and looked perplexed, not that anyone could see her expression in the dark.

"Naruto?"

"Hee hee. How do you like my new suit, Sakura-chan? Now I can really sneak into anywhere easy!"

Sakura, still perplexed, "New suit? How can I tell in the dark, idiot?"

Behind Sakura and to her right she thought she heard Sasuke mumble something like, "Idiots." Following that, she heard a sound followed by a dancing orange light. Fwa-tch. Sasuke lit a match and lit a fat wax candle in his hand. Undoubtedly, this was something Sasuke always had packed with him, being a competent and sensible shinobi.

Both Sasuke's cold, dark eyes and Sakura's light green ones looked over to where they believed Naruto was and they both would have bust out laughing at what they saw had they not been in a complete state of shock. Naruto was standing there, wearing a dark green body suit much like Lee's, and wearing it proudly. To make his attire seem even that much more absurd, Naruto had tried to cover the rest of him with other dark-colored clothing. He wore socks under his blue sandals, one blue and one black. (Apparently these were the only socks he owned since he was never accustomed to wear them.) On his hands he wore winter gloves with little snowflakes on them. He must have borrowed them from Iruka once as they seemed far too large for him. Finally, on his head he wore…. Well, it was hard to tell what it was. It was some dark piece of fabric that had been recently mutilated (most likely by Naruto's scissors). He had somehow then wrapped it around his blond hair and then still had enough fabric to pull it over his face and then a slit was cut for the eyes. It was obvious that Naruto had actually tried to cut the slit while the thing was on his face as he had given himself a small scratch on the bridge of his nose, though it already seemed to be healing. Sakura and Sasuke just noticed how Naruto's voice seemed a bit muffled.

Naruto smiled wide, expecting some sort of praise. It was strange. Even with the fabric, you could tell he was smiling. "What do you think Sakura-chan?" Naruto started punching mid-air as he spoke excitedly.

"Maybe now I can be as fast as thick-brows!" He mimicked one of Lee's moves. The one where he punched in front of him so hard that he was kinda stuck there while his hand shook and head nodded back and forth, mouth stretched, yelling, "Yiiiiiieeeee-ah!" Although Naruto's own punch was a poor imitation anyway….

Sakura and Sasuke just stood, transfixed for a moment in the light of the candle. Sakura couldn't help but think how truly scary it was seeing Naruto imitate Lee….

"Na… Naruto? Why… are you wearing that?" She smiled a little, trying to be polite, but her eyebrows pinched together in mixed emotions. She couldn't help but be angry with him for being an idiot, but she was also confused to no end why even this idiot would be this stupid.

Naruto paused in his imitations of Lee and turned to Sakura, hands proudly on his hips. "Hee hee. Ultra Thick-brows gave me this. He said, with this suit, I could improve my speed and agility, like him and regular thick brows. I wanted to try it out on our mission tonight. Hee hee."

Sakura looked to the floor. She was getting mad. One can only tolerate so much idiocy, after all. In the dim light her eyes were shadowed. "And the rest of it?" Her voice sounded a little dangerous, not that Naruto detected it.

Naruto looked down upon his own attire, somewhat surprised that Sakura had noticed. "Oh. Hee hee. I just thought—"

He was caught mid-sentence. Sakura quickly ran over and punched him in the head, hard. "Stop thinking, idiot!"

Naruto took a good thirty seconds to recover, gloves rubbing on his injured head. When he pulled his mask (or whatever it was) off, it looked like he had tears in his eyes. Sasuke walked over slowly, holding the candle. The light reflected off of his dark eyes in an eerie fashion. "Idiots. Stop fooling around."

Sakura was slightly hurt by this, being included in the same category as Naruto, but she quickly shook it off, since it was Sasuke after all, and turned her attention back to Naruto. She looked down on him suspiciously. "So what is all this about, Naruto? Please tell me this idea of yours isn't as horrible as your outfit."

Naruto looked up at her, still nursing his wounded skull with one hand. He looked like he was afraid she'd hit him again if he even said a word. "Uh- yeah, yeah." He cheered up a bit and began to explain. "Well, we want to find out more about that girl, right? Well, I was thin-" Naruto stopped himself, still afraid that Sakura might strike at any moment, though she had visibly calmed. He rubbed the back of his head, both as protection and out of embarrassment. "ehem. I mean, there's only one place in the village where you can find a scroll on just about everything and anyone."

"Oh no. Naruto... You don't mean..." Sakura realized what he meant before he even had to say it and she dreaded his answer.

Naruto's mischievous smile returned brilliantly. "Hee hee. Yes. We break into the Hokage's office building and root through the scrolls. There's gotta be something there." Naruto's eyes were wide with excitement and the reflection of the candle before him made it look like his eyes really were burning. His best imitation of Fuzzy brows yet.

Surprisingly, Sakura and Sasuke held back from insulting Naruto immediately and thought for a moment. Naruto had a point…. Even if he was the only one crazy enough to even think of breaking into the Hokage's office. Was it even possible?

"But Naruto…. Tsunade-sama and her assistants aren't going to let you just walk in there. There has to be a lot of security." Sakura thought about it, but she still couldn't believe she was even entertaining the idea.

Naruto didn't finch. "Yeah right. I got in there once, before I was a genin. It was easy!"

The looks he received from his teammates were like helium in the balloon that was Naruto's head. Sakura couldn't believe it. "You… you got past the guards into the Hokage's office?"

He nodded fervently. "Yeah yeah! hee hee hee."

"But what about now? I'm sure they've increased security after the Chuunin exam… right?" Sakura was really unsure of this idea. She was searching for any possible excuse. There had to be some reason why this was such a bad idea.

As if something like that could deter Naruto. "That's why I have you guys with me! Sakura, you can use genjutsu to take care of any guards and Sasuke can search the scrolls."

"And what will you be doing?" Sasuke interjected with a piercing look.

"I have to show you how to get there!" Naruto said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It took me a while to find the right room the first time. Plus, I can cover you while you're searching!"

Sigh. "Idiot..." Sasuke said, more out of habit than as an insult. It was an interesting idea, he thought behind a furrowed brow, and it probably was best that he searched since Naruto's knowledge of kanji was less than admirable…. Naruto had actually come up with a half decent plan, not that Sasuke would have said that out loud. "My only worry is Tsunade-sama. We'll have to wait until we know she's gone. The rest of her Chuunin assistants shouldn't be a problem."

"Are you sure this is such a great idea?" Sakura questioned uneasily, her eyes shifting between either of the boys' faces.

"Of course it is! We'll get to find out about that girl!" Naruto was as excited as ever, his blue eyes absolutely glowing.

Sakura's green eyes shifted downward. "I'm still not so sure..."