"Stupid hokage, this is all your fault."

A very bitter and disgruntled figure sat on a makeshift bench made out of little more than a wooden plank. He worked his paint brush into the can of paint that rested on the bench with him. With a sweep of his hand, his canvas now bore a huge red splurge right across the surface.

"Consider this pay back, you old fart."

The young artist sighed. This form of stress relief just wasn't cutting it for him. Sure, he's been able to tap into his creative side and create never before seen feats of work for everyone to see, but it wasn't what he wanted or needed. He wanted something else. The paint brush falls back into the can of paints with a small plop and a hand reaches for the wet paint on the wall, bitterly wiping it into random directions as the man broods over thoughts of the past. He dabbed more paint over his work as he started to reminisce.

He remembers the office clearly, since its something he has to see everyday anyway. He remembered every little detail, things like how many papers had to be done that day, how far the chair was from the table, how much coffee was left in the mug, which books were in which shelves, which scrolls were rolled up, which weren't … special days have special memories it seems, which are specially remembered.

Click.

Ah, right on time. He remembered exactly when the door opened and how he welcomed the person who came in. Namely, with a very focused gaze.

Without a word, a person walked in. Dressed in tight black pants, a sleeveless black shirt with a metal plated armor over it and a porcelain mask resembling a dog, the guest scratched his head as he made his way in front of the wooden desk. There was dead silence hanging over the room as they both looked at each other, one of them having to look from behind narrow slits of a mask and the other having to look past it from the other end.

"So," came a soft voice from behind the desk.

"So?" replied the voice that came from in front of it.

"How did it go?" the figure cloaked in a mixture of a white cape over red robes taps his fingers impatiently over his wooden desk.

The figure on the other end of the table tilts his head to the side while rubbing the porcelain chin of his mask. "Do you want the long version or the short-"

A sharp glare forced the masked figure to swallow his own breath and silence him for a good second. "It went well! It went well!" he threw his arms in front of himself as though expecting some form of attack even though none really came.

Finally, the person who still sat behind the desk smiled softly as he relaxed his whole body and brought his hands together and clasped his fingers together gently. "Tell me the whole story, please." His voice had that commanding tone to it, but the masked figure could tell that it was more pleading than anything else.

"You don't mind if I take a seat first, would you?" the masked person asked in a joking manner. Of course, it was rhetorical and he proceeded to pull a seat for himself and lay back as though it was his office. "Now, let's see, where should I start?" Slowly, he began to undo the clasps of his mask. As though understanding a hidden message, from behind the desk, the heavily robed person spun on his seat and proceeded to shut the blinds that let light into his office. Relative darkness showered over the entire office space with only a few small shafts of light passing through the imperfections in the blinds.

"Thanks. As expected, infiltration of the primary objective was a rather simple task. Although security was relatively thorough, there were still several holes that could readily be exploited if you knew where to look." With the mask finally loose, he takes it off and places it face up on the desk.

"According to plan, detection didn't occur until outside the gates of Konoha, but even then time was relatively short and there was no room for error." He pauses for a moment, staring at his own mask as a glint of sunlight marked a spot on the surface.

"Konoha ninjas are definitely nothing to be scoffed. They really did chase me for days on end and without the supply of soldier pills received before the mission, I would've probably been caught in little over forty-eight hours." Course hands picked up the dog mask, fingers tracing the contours of the design as his narration continued. "There were times when I was able to hide within small villages and remained safe for a couple of hours at most. I have to say that some chunnins have poor detection skills." Once more, the porcelain meets the wooden desk.

"As I reached past the border of Fire Country and made into the Water Country, I was able to attain twenty-four hours of grace period. Luckily official paperwork takes quite some time to accomplish, and without it, the ninjas on my tail couldn't continue their chase past the border. This allowed me time to looks for a place to complete the mission objective." He cricks his neck and looks up at the ceiling and stares at it for a good while. "Sadly, there weren't many places I deemed … fit for the primary objective." From behind the desk, the figure in white robes smiled. He definitely chose the right person for the job all right.

"When the grace period was over, I was pursued again. When the mission reached the seventh day period, which is considered the critical period, the pursuers went all out. The contract that allows them passage into the Water Country would expire and they would have to go back empty-handed. Therefore, the seventh day is the day when they would maximize all their efforts." He laughs, "And boy … that was a headache."

"I congratulate them for being well organized despite the size of their numbers and for the commanding officers," he coughs while patting playfully at his own chest, causing his listener across the table to laugh, "for doing such good jobs at taking charge of lower and equal ranks with effective display of command and decisive decision making abilities. They were able to bring all their numbers together and act as one cohesive force." He even emphasizes his point by clapping his hands together a couple of times.

"Then, a commanding jounin intercepted me at the last few hours of the day and I engaged the officer in battle. As planned, I made it look good." He grins under his black face mask.

"Too good," came the reply from behind the desk, the owner of the voice grinning with equal mischievousness. "Anko came back with several bruises, a three broken ribs, a broken arm, six puncture wounds and mild poisoning. I can tell you right now, she wasn't very happy when she woke up, Kakashi."

Kakashi just laughed and shrugged the comment off, "She wouldn't have been too happy if I held back. She's always been wanting another battle with me but I've always been too busy because of my Anbu duties. Being her first chance in a good while, she made the best of it. Unfortunately, I didn't really have time to play with her. If you ask me, I would think that she forgot all about the 'real' mission."

From behind the desk, Kakashi received a nod, "It would seem that way. And for your information, no one suspected that 'Kakashi' who was one of the commanding officers in the team in pursuit was actually me in disguise of a special henge, save for those who were part of the real mission."

"Such as Anko and I." Kakashi added.

From behind the desk, the man nodded sagely. He shuffled a few papers on the table and proceeded to pull out a folder and opened it and scanned through a few pages. "The entire team had to pull out of the Water Country before the safe passage papers expired. They came back to Konoha three days after failing their mission objective. Several ninjas were lightly injured with bruises and cuts, some had minor burns as well as concussions. The worst off in the whole group was Anko, but you already knew that." He closes the folder and places it back on top of a pile. "They requested to have the mission reinstated, but due to legal and political reasons, I could no longer assign the mission and neither could they pursue." Again, his hands clasp together, "Officially, the pursuit mission never happened."

Kakashi had to grin underneath his mask, "You're getting pretty good at this legal thing, aren't you?"

His listener grinned back, "Of course. Being the hokage, I'm supposed to know all about all the things there is to know about leading a whole village comprised of civilians and ninjas." He spun on his seat and looked at the window. He uses his fingers and pries open a small portion of the blinds and peeks through. "The civilian populace keeps the whole village running, and yet they know nothing of what's really happening, and its supposed to stay that way. They're our most important resource after all. If they heard that the … sealed demon had left the village, then it would be a riot." A painful expression reached his face. He wouldn't ever use the demon host's real name.

"And if they heard that a mission to retrieve the demon failed, then we would definitely lose their support." Kakashi finished, but then he paused. "You don't have to call him that in front of me. I know the truth, that's why I accepted the S-Class mission behind the A-Class mission to pursue me." At first, Kakashi felt slightly offended in the carrier's steed since the person in front of him of all people should know the real truth … but underneath the underneath … there must be a reason.

Kakashi's words seemed to remain unheard though as all there was in the room was silence. "Yes, we would lose their support. So, no one among the entire civilian populace was to find out. But there are also ninjas who fear the demon. The whole pursuit was staged to appease them with enough reason not to pursue any further."

Underneath his mask Kakashi frowned, but he decided not to push the topic of the 'demon'. "Yes, I know." It was his turn to clasp his hands together, "Once the chase was officially over, I was able to freely roam the Water Country in order to find a proper place for the carrier to live in. It was … a relatively hard search, but I did manage to find a good place for him after searching long enough." He smiled again, "As you requested, I will not spill any more details concerning his new home, but he'll be safe and happy there. I've made sure of that."

The figure behind the desk smiled as he shuffled the paperwork on the desk into a neat pile, "It is an official edict that those who took part of the mission never speak of it, and no one is to cross the Water Country among them. No one is to look, talk nor ask about the demon carrier." He sighed softly, "No one is to find out where he is hidden right now. And you, Kakashi," he looked at the name's owner sternly, "Are not to say a word to anyone about it, not even to me."

The silver haired man himself smiled, "I'd be happy to comply. I'm his godfather afterall."

Kakashi received a nod an a grateful expression from behind the desk. "Kakashi, you are dismissed. Forget all about what we talked about in here. None of it occurred and not a word of it was spoken." Kakashi nodded and picked up his mask, tucked it under his arm and proceeded to walk out of the office, "Oh, Kakashi." Once again, Kakashi turned around to regard the person who spoke his name, "Anko said she wanted to see you when you got back."

Obviously, Kakashi gulped and earned a snicker from across the room. After that, Kakashi turned the door nob, but once again, "Kakashi."

"Yes?"

"Thank you." By the time Kakashi turned around, he was met with the sight of the hokage bowing before him in genuine gratitude. Kakashi himself bowed in respect and equal gratitude, "No. Thank you for letting me be a part of his mission. I'm happy to do something for him and for you, Yondaime Hokage."

SPLAT! The yondaime finally added his final touch to his work of art which he finished right as his memory of that day came to a conclusion. Carefully, he pulls on the rope that held his makeshift bench floating a few hundred feet into the air. As he ascended he smiled childishly.

The Yondaime Hokage just turned the Sandaime Hokage's monument into Konoha's largest clown face.

Author's Notes:

This is it, the last of the prologue chapters.

I have to apologize for poor grammar on this piece. I just finished it and decided to upload it right away. I don't have a lot of free time for a couple of days, but I decided to continue with the story anyway. So, if anyone notices any errors, please feel free to point it out, I'd love to correct them.

To be honest, I sort of dislike the expository nature of the chapter. It reminds me too much of the way the last chapters in Harry Potter suddenly just divulge all the mysteries in one go rather than slowly unravel them throughout the story. I'll try to avoid it in the future chapters. Well, not that there were a lot of mysteries to start with. I just hope that this chapter doesn't come out weak or disappointing.

Anyone is free to comment and even suggest better ways of telling this chapter. I'm not very good with foreshadowing and things like that, especially since half the entire story comes out spontaneously as I write it.