After Team Seven passed the survival exercise, Kai had announced to the newly passed Genins of her mission that the Hokage had given her. To say Naruto and Sasuke were disappointed was an understatement. The blond had angrily complained that his first mission of being a Genin without her was unfair. While Sasuke may not have complained, his body language, on the other hand, had shown his dislike of it with his hands fisted, hiding them with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Why can't we go with you, Kai?! We're finally fully-fledged ninjas!" complained Naruto, his arms crossed in front of him as they all sat in the dining room in Kai's home after finishing eating dinner.

Picking up the dirty dishes with Sakura's help, Kai frowned at him, "Kakashi and I are fully trained ninjas. You, on the other hand, Naruto, along with Sasuke and Sakura, are just newly made Genins, and you three won't be able to survive against highly trained rogue ninjas."

"I can, too, survive against them," pouted Naruto.

Kai sighed before smiling at Sakura for helping her wash the dishes. Seeing that the two young boys aren't going to let this subject drop, Kakashi intervened, "What Kai said is correct, Naruto. What you three have only known in the academy is completely different than what you think maybe out there in the outside world. Sure some places may be nice like our village here, but everywhere else isn't. It's filled with dangerous things, animals, even people."

"I know that…." Naruto mumbled quietly. He still remembered what happened all those years ago when those rogue ninjas had invaded their village. Though they were detained, it didn't mean that they weren't strong. He slightly shivered when he remembered his kidnapper was about to off him if Kai hadn't made it to him in time on his birthday.

Sasuke brooded about what had happened to his clan and knew that he was part of that dangerous people. But it didn't mean that he wasn't disappointed at not being able to go with Kai on this mission for him to get stronger.

Handing the last sudded dish to Kai to rinse, Sakura inputted her thoughts, "I don't understand why you two are so mad about Kai not being with us on our first mission. I mean, it's not like he won't come back and join us later for our other missions."

The three males were silent. They were quietly brooding, remembering some of the minors, sometimes major wounds that they would see the sunset blonde come back from her mission. And to hear what Sakura just said, it was a really bad jinx for a ninja. Kakashi would know since he did those missions. And not knowing if you'll survive those types of missions or not was just something one should always mentally prepare themselves for if the person doesn't survive.

Feeling the heavy atmosphere, Kai dried her hands on a clean towel before cutting it, "It's like Sakura said. I'll come back from this mission and join you four after."

The males all looked at each other before looking at her. Naruto mumbled, "You promise?"

Smiling, Kai put her hands on her hips, "Have I ever broken a promise to you, Naruto?"

The blond shook his head, remembering the sunset blonde keeping all of her promises to him, and not once has she ever broken them. He then smiled, putting his hands behind his head, "Never! And I know that you'll always come back. You always do!"

Sighing quietly, Sasuke nodded, "What Naruto said. Just come back from this mission alive. After all, you still have to train me to become stronger."

Kai chuckled at them before ruffling their hairs, "I promise." She then saw how late it was when she looked at the clock, "Oh wow. It's late, and I still need to pack."

Taking that as their cue to leave, Kakashi stood up from his chair, "Well, we should get going. We shouldn't hold you up and waste anymore of your time since you'll be needing your sleep for the long trip."

Seeing the time, Sakura agreed, "Kakashi-sensei's right. You still have to get up early to meet up with Lord Hokage in the morning."

Both boys followed the two and knew they should leave Kai to get plenty of rest for her mission, even though they didn't want to.

Naruto pouted, "Well, when you come back, we'll go on an even better mission than the one you'll be going on tomorrow. Believe it!"

Mentally rolling his eyes, Sasuke started pushing the energetic blond towards the front door, "Hurry up and go, loser. We don't want to keep Kai up later than she already is."

"What'd you call me, Sasuke?!"

"Don't even think about laying a hand on Sasuke, Naruto!"

Hearing the three start to bicker, Kai and Kakashi looked at each other and sighed. The older Jounin voiced his concern, "Be careful out there tomorrow, okay?"

Kai nodded, "Don't worry, you know I always am."

Putting a hand on her head, Kakashi looked into her ocean blue eyes, "I know."

Waving at the four as they left, Kai closed the door and locked it before going into her bedroom. Walking over to her desk, she took out two hidden scrolls that the Anbu had sneakily left in her room and opened them. Reading the first scroll, Kai read that she was to go at three in the morning and meet up with her team at the rendezvous point marked on the map provided to her on the second scroll. Taking the second scroll in hand, she opened it to see a map that had an X mark on it. Kai then understood why the Hokage needed her to leave so early. It was quite a way to get to the rendezvous, and she had already prolonged helping them with the mission for too long. Memorizing the location in seconds, Kai burned it with a small fire jutsu before rolling the letter back up.

By the time three came around, Kai was fully awake and ready. Grabbing her pack, she went out the door and locked it behind her before making her way towards the front gates.

Even at this hour, she could see that Kotetsu and Izumo were still guarding the front. However, they were dead asleep again. Kai softly shook her head, wondering how those two were such fine guardsmen if they were sleeping most of the time. Focusing her attention back on the mission, she soon left the village and quickly started making her way to her squad.

It was hours later, well into the late afternoon, when Kai finally made it to the rendezvous point. Though what she hadn't expected was to see a bustling town. There were villagers everywhere, hustling and bustling about as they went through their days. There were even vendors shouting to try and gain customers to go to their booths. Rubbing her head, Kai decided to go to the bar that the Hokage had written in the letter.

As she made her way inside, she didn't expect someone to call out her name, "Oi! Kai! Over here!"

Quickly recognizing the voice, Kai looked over at the voice owner to see a long-haired silverette waving at her. Her eyes widened when she saw the rest of the squad sitting at the table with the silver-haired girl, waving at her. Making her way over to where they were seated, she carefully set her pack down where she knew no one could steal it and sat in the booth next to the squad leader.

"Akio, Yuko, Ichiro-Sensei!"

Akio grinned at her, "Yo, Kai! It's been a long time since Team Four has been together like this."

"Kai! It's been so long! I see you've been well!" exclaimed Yuko, trying to get past Akio so she could hug the sunset blonde. But the raven-haired boy held her back.

"Yuko, come on! You can hug Kai later," said Akio, sighing when she gave in and sat back in her seat next to him in the booth.

Ichiro sighed, putting a hand on Kai's head before ruffling it, "How many times do I have to tell you, you brat. I'm not your sensei anymore, and we're practically equal now."

Kai chuckled, rubbing her head, "Sorry, it's a habit since you were our Sensei for our team."

Yuko nodded, "He's right! And no matter what, you'll always be our sensei, Ichiro-sensei!"

"Yeah, especially since we've been together as a team for quite a long time," said Akio, agreeing with the silver-haired girl.

"So, how's Kazuki been doing Ichiro-sensei?" asked Kai, looking at the forest green-haired man beside her.

Sighing, Ichiro smiled fondly, "Kazuki is seven years old now. He loves being in the ninja academy and wants his old man to teach him some cool ninja moves."

The three smiled. They knew Ichiro loved his son very much, including his wife. The man would always smile so fondly as he went into his memories whenever he talked about them to anyone. And by seeing that fond look in his eyes, anyone could tell that the older man loves the two dearly with all his heart. But if anyone were ever to threaten any of his loved ones, he was a downright scary papa bear who would try and keep any of them safe. His three former students included.

Kai looked at the two, "So, how have you two been? The last time we departed from each other, I remember that you finally confessed your feelings to Yuko, Akio."

The raven-haired boy blushed and looked away, scratching his cheek as Yuko beamed at her, "Akio and I are still together, Kai! Our relationship is still going strong."

Kai smiled at this, "That's great to hear." She then leaned forward across the table to get closer to Akio as she brought a hand up to cover her mouth so Yuko couldn't hear nor read her lips, "So, when's the wedding?"

Akio blushed a bright red and pushed Kai's face away from him, "W-what are you talking about, you idiot?! That's way too soon for that!"

"Really? But you guys are seventeen, about to be eighteen soon. I don't think that's too soon, right?" said Kai, sitting back in her seat as she thought out loud.

Yuko blinked, "What are you guys talking about?"

Akio waved his arms in front of her as he tried to stray his girlfriend's interest in the subject while glaring at the sunset blonde, who was oblivious to the look while she was still thinking.

Seeing this, Ichiro laughed and patted Kai's head, "Looks like you never changed, Kai!" Focusing on the real reason they are all there in the first place, he sighs, "Anyways, we all didn't come here to chat and catch up with each other, now did we?"

Seeing that the fun time was over, they all got serious and went to business. Taking three photos out of his pockets, Ichiro set them on the table for the three to see, "These three are the rogue ninjas whom we are going after."

Looking down at the pictures, one of the men looked young, around his mid-twenties, while the other two were rough and rugged looking. One of them was a thin muscular man with a scar running down the left side of his lip, while the other was a burly man who looked like he took most of the damage for the team thanks to all of the scars he wielded.

Akio frowned, "They don't look like much, yet no one has detained or executed these guys yet?"

Ichiro looked at the ravennette, "Haven't I taught you never to be deceived by your opponents' appearances, Akio? They may not look much, but they have been slaughtering hundreds of villagers here at the border between the Land of Fire and Earth for the past three months. We haven't been able to do much about these guys because if one of our group were to go after them, they would end up fleeing over the border, making us trespassing the Land of Earth's land."

"So now that we have the Tsuchikage's approval, we're free to stop them even after crossing the border," said Yuko.

"That's correct," said Ichiro, nodding at her. "But the only thing we lack is information about their strengths and weaknesses."

Akio hummed, "We're practically fighting them blinded then."

Kai looked at them, "That may be true. But when has that ever stopped us? Sure, a ninja never reveals their secrets. But we have defeated many of our targets and enemies before without knowing them."

Ichiro agreed, "Kai's right. For now, we'll have to plan and tread carefully."

They all nodded, not seeing a village man getting up from the booth behind the couple and leaving the building.

After leaving the bar, the former Team Four had gone to the hotel that Ichiro had rented for them to sleep for the night. The four had decided to sleep in one room since they would be leaving early the next day, so there was no point getting more than one room.

As they slept the night away, the door to their rented room slowly opened. A glint lit in the dark open doorway until shurikens and kunais blasted into the room, hitting the sleeping forms. The culprit smirked at his easy mission. He had thought these ninjas from the Leaf Village would give him a hard time to get rid of; instead, they were so easy that he almost felt insulted to be sent such weak ninjas after them.

Deciding to check his kills, the culprit had only stepped into the room until he stopped when he felt something sharp on his neck.

"Now, did you think it would be that easy to get rid of us?" asked Ichiro, revealing himself to be holding the kunai from behind their trespasser.

The man tried to glimpse Ichiro through his peripheral vision, but that was unaccomplished, for if he were to move his head, the kunai would slit his throat. His eyes turned back to look in front of him when he saw movement at the beds, revealing both Akio and Yuko standing next to them.

Akio narrows his eyes at their killer, "We knew you were there at the bar sitting in the booth next to us."

"And it was quite easy to pull information out of you while you were distracted by our conversation and appearance, too," said Yuko, smiling.

"Uyehara Tokuma, age thirty-two, a new hire to the three-band of rogue ninjas, and a former ninja from the Village Hidden by a Waterfall," said Kai, reciting the information that Yukio had given them by the bedroom window. Cutting off all exits for their trespasser in case he decided to make a run for it.

Tokuma gritted his teeth, "H-How-?"

He flinched when Ichiro pressed his kunai more onto his neck, "That's for us to know and you never to find out."

"Oh, he'll never find out, all right."

Surprise at the voice, all four Leaf ninja's eyes widened when they saw another person they didn't know about appearing out of thin air into the middle of the room. Jumping into defense with kunai's in their hands, Kai, Akio, and Yuko wonder cautiously how this man had gotten into the room without even sensing him.

They raised their weapons higher to cover their vital areas when they saw him raise an arm, pointing straight at Tokuma.

Seeing his action, Tokuma started to struggle against Ichiro, "W-w-wait! I didn't fail my mission yet!"

"Your mission had already failed when your targets noticed you," said the mystery man. Before Kai or her teammates could stop him, the room exploded. Windows shattered as the fire blazed from the room.

~Meanwhile, outside~

Koizumi Takeo, the young man of the three rouge ninja, whistled from the rooftop of a building across from the inn, "Looks like Tetsuzan decided to kill them all with a fiery explosion."

Go Hyobe, the man with the scar down the left side of his mouth, frowned, "You shouldn't celebrate too soon, Takeo. They're Leaf Ninjas, and one of them was none other than The Yellow Flash Prodigy."

Their attention turned to their third partner, Hirano Gesshin, when he grunted, "They made it out alive."

Looking down to where his sight was on, they all saw them. Standing in front of the inn stood Kai, who had a grip on the back of her teammates' vests. She let them go, and the three stood back on their feet, giving her grateful looks before they had sensed their presence.

Takeo grinned, "I got to say, the guys aren't half bad looking. Especially the one in the ponytail. He looks delicious."

Hyobe narrowed his eyes at him, "I will never understand your weird obsession."

"That's because you like to decapitate your victims with those strings of yours," replied Takeo. Looking down at the guys, he licked his lips, "I love to watch as I mark those pretty faces as mine while fear perfects it."

Before they could dwell on the subject, Watase Tetsuzan appeared next to them, "Enough of your chatters. Let's go now that we have their attention."

Nodding, the three followed him out into the forest.

Kai narrowed her eyes at the rogue ninjas when she saw them leave.

Akio grunted, "Looks like you were right, Ichiro-sensei. The guy was expandable to them."

"Yes, but now it leaves us with the fourth unknown ninja," said Ichiro, thinking about who he was since he had no information about him. Turning to their info retriever, he asked, "Yuko, were you able to retrieve any information from him?"

The silver-haired girl shook her head, "No, it was if he knew about my ability."

"So, somehow, he knows that you're a Yamanaka," said Kai, not liking this information.

Akio growled, running a hand through his hair, "Man, what a greeting this was. I thought we would have the jump on them, but instead, they ended up having an extra and got the jump on us."

Seeing panicking villagers running out of their homes, Ichiro announced, "We'll think about it later. For now, let's get off the streets."

Nodding, they followed him out of the town and into the outskirts. Scanning their surroundings to ensure they were safe and the rogues were nowhere near, Ichiro turned to his old students, "We'll rest here for now."

Surprise, Akio asked, "What?! But they know we're here and are after them! Why are we resting?"

"Because we'll be exhausted if we go after them now," answered Kai, narrowing her eyes at him. "It's best if we rest, are well equipped, and with a plan."

Seeing that she was right, Akio crossed his arms and looked away, "H-hmph! I knew that!"

Yuko giggled while Ichiro shook his head, "Come on, the less chatter, the more we get to rest."

Nodding, they all agreed and quickly chose their place to rest. And since they lost most of their things in the explosion back at the inn, they had no choice but to sleep on the forest floor or the tree's branches.

Deciding to take the first watch, Kai jumped up onto a tree branch and kept a lookout. She frowned at the uneasy feeling in her stomach. Something was going to happen. Something bad. But she didn't know what. Looking down at her resting teammates, she could only hope that nothing would go wrong and that all of them would be able to return to the Leaf Village alive.