Road to Heaven

by crimson sun06

For generations Team 7 has produced some of the greatest shinobi of their age. Their legendary feats moulded not only Konoha but the entire shinobi world into what it is, for better or worse. They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions but its the road to heaven that goes through hell.

3. Welcome to Team-7

A/N:-Another week another chapter. This was rather hard to write. Kept coming back to change things again and again and still was left unsatisfied. Hoping for some feedback to assure me otherwise or telling me what it needs. Either works. That's why I'm here after all. Just building the plot up for now. So things might seem slow as there is still some things which need to be built up before they can be resolved. But I don't plan on dragging this for long and we will get to the missions part soon enough. Anyway enjoy.

Chapter 2

Welcome to Team-7.

Shikamaru reached the assigned spot at 8 AM. Almost an hour before he was told to get there. The reasons for getting there early had nothing to do with his eagerness for the new job, but rather, as hard as it was to believe his own laziness. It was something he had worked out when he was barely a month into his stint at the Academy. After weeks of being pestered by his mother into getting ready for classes, he had decided to avoid the entire hassle by getting up early and reaching the Academy an hour early. It gave him time to sleep uninterrupted till the instructor made it to the class.

It also had the added benefit of getting his mother off his back, who was now proud of her son's enthusiasm towards his education and dedication to the shinobi life. A fact she never failed to regale her husband and friends with. His old man unlike his mother however, wasn't fooled and knew exactly what he was up to. But he never made a big deal, or rather any deal out of it. A fact he was thankful for, at least in the beginning anyway. The man had then proceeded to exploit this leverage(over his own son!) by getting him to do his share of chores around the house. At times he wondered if carrying on the charade was worth it.

But there were few things he loved more than his morning nap, a fact his father was fully aware of, so he decided to play along, begrudgingly, waiting for the day he'd have some dirt over his dad. But the man was more crafty and devious than he gave him credit for and despite his best efforts he failed miserably. So he had decided that trying to find decent blackmail material on his father was more trouble than it was worth and things continued as they were till the day he graduated the Academy.

A part of him did wonder what he was doing here? He had been discharged for crying out loud. He was content in his empty and miserable existence. So the question remained. The answer wasn't something he had to ponder too hard over.

Naruto Uzumaki.

2 Days ago

Tobirama Senju Park, Konoha

11:06 AM

Shikamaru studied the three shougi boards in front of him. Two of his opponents were men in their fifties and the third just a couple of years older. The games were on their fifteenth, eighteenth and twenty-first move respectively. The length of the game had little to do with the prowess of his adversaries though. He could've finished each of those games within the twenty moves.

But this also happened to be one of his steady sources of income. If people realized how good he really was no-one would play him ever again.

Pragmatism before pride was one of the mottos he lived by. He'd lose a game here and there, to keep things interesting and to attract more opponents. He gave good odds to them too, most of the time in their favor.

So then why was he showing off by playing three of them at the same time? The short answer would be money, ten-thousand ryo to be precise. That kind of dough was nothing to sneeze at.

Focusing on the game he finished all three before thirty moves. The crowd which had gathered around the players dispersed.

"Good game kid," one of his challengers patted him on the back good-naturedly, while handing him the cash, the other two were a little more sour, but paid nevertheless. He was here for the money not the goodwill anyway.

Shikamaru couldn't help the smirk on his face as he collected his winnings. It was almost too easy.

"Hey! How about a game with me?"

Shikamaru turned to the source of the voice to see a blonde guy grinning like an idiot at him, as if seeing him was the best thing that happened to him in ages.

"I only play for money," he remarked, the blonde wasn't discouraged though as he reached into his pocket to fish out some money. A few crumpled notes and some coins were all he could manage.

"I have got... 10 ryo," he said counting his money as he placed it on the table.

After his recent windfall he really wasn't eager for a game for a meager ten ryo. But he and the new arrival had a history of sorts and he was the only guy in Konoha who could lay claim to having Shikamaru in his debt.

"Take a seat then and I will set the board," Shikamaru sighed, "you can take black."

A few moves into the game, Shikamaru decided that he had waited enough.

"What are you doing here Naruto? You hate shougi."

"I came here to see how you were doing Shika," Naruto moved his knight challenging Shika's rook. "It's been what? Three years?"

"Three years four months and fifteen days," He moved his own knight threatening Naruto's bishop, "and cut the bullshit will you?"

"But who's counting?" Naruto remarked dryly, moving his bishop getting it out of the danger zone, "I've been assigned a team."

"Congratulations," he said and removed one of Naruto's vulnerable rooks with one of his own.

"Thanks," he said, a little disgruntled about losing a powerful piece but tried to bolster his defences by moving a pawn, "What'd you say if I told you that as my first assignment I have to recruit you?"

"I'd say someone is yanking your chain," he moved his bishop to take Naruto's knight, "check."

"Why'd someone like Kakashi Hatake yank my chain?" Naruto tried to salvage some pride by taking one of his rooks.

"I don't know, why'd someone like Kakashi want you in his team at all?"

The veiled insult failed to dampen Naruto's enthusiasm as he merely smirked at Shikamaru as if he knew something that he didn't.

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

"….How long have you waited to say that?"

"Nearly my whole life."

"Hmmm… that explains it," Shikamaru said as he moved his last move, "and that's checkmate."

"What?" Naruto stared at the board disbelievingly, "Already?"

Shikamaru shrugged as he began collecting the pieces and the money.

"C'mon Shika." Naruto whined.

"If you want a rematch come back tomorrow."

"I meant you joining the team."

"First of all I'm not buying it," he was beginning to get annoyed now, "Secondly, I've been discharged, dishonorably if you remember, so what makes you think I'd want to even if I could?"

Naruto sighed heavily at his words.

"What happened during that mission wasn't your fault Shika, I've said it before and I will say it again. But that's not why I am here today." Naruto took a deep breath and met his gaze, "I have a feeling that whatever I am walking into right now is going to get extremely hairy. So what I am trying to say is that I would feel a lot better if you were there to watch my back."

And just like that a matter Shikamaru hadn't even bothered giving a second thought to, became the biggest decision to ever be taken by him.

Naruto then handed him a scroll.

"These are your reassignment papers." Naruto explained, "all you gotta to do is sign them and you will be reinstated as a Chunin in the Konoha Shinobi Corps."

Shikamaru stared blankly at the scroll he had been handed. His usually sharp mind was for the first time in a long time at a loss to process any of this.

"I can't go through that again Naruto," he called out to the retreating back of his once comrade his voice breaking.

"It'll be different this time Shika," the blonde said without turning around, "I promise."

XxX

Having played that meeting over and over in his head, Shikamaru wondered if there was any way he could have gotten himself out of his current situation. Part of him admired Naruto for having maneuvered him to right where he was, another resented him for having managed to do it. He was supposed to be the genius goddamnit! But despite his feelings on the matter, this deserved a look-in.

The scroll in his pocket felt rather heavy. He hadn't signed it yet. He needed to make sure that this wasn't some elaborate hoax first. He didn't want to be conned into something he could have avoided with a little circumspection after all.

All of this seemed too good to be true. As much as he hated to admit it, he had been proud of being a shinobi. Despite his less than stellar performance at the academy, he had managed to be the first in his class to attain the rank of chunin. The day he was dishonorably discharged had been one of the darkest days of his life. The only reason it wasn't the darkest was because of the reason for his discharge. His experiences with stuff like that had driven some hard-hitting life-lessons into him, lessons which came at a really heavy price. So now when he was offered what he had lost, he wanted to see the strings attached to that present.

A presence in the field broke him out of thoughts. He didn't bother moving or even opening his eyes. Whoever it was, they weren't hostile. He wasn't moving from his place unless he had to. The person whoever it was moved closer till they were standing right over him.

"Shikamaru?" A girl's voice, vaguely familiar called out to him as if they couldn't quite believe themselves, "is that really you?"

Finally not having the excuse to keep up the charade of being asleep, he opened one eye to study his….companion. He was greeted by the sight of pink hair and green eyes.

"Sakura Haruno," the name came to his lips almost involuntarily, "are you here for the same reason I am?"

"I don't know," Sakura eyed him rather suspiciously, "why are you here?"

To be fair, Shikamaru really hadn't expected that blatant attempt to gather information work, especially not on someone like Sakura. But it was worth a try, and her evasive response had answered his question anyway.

"I'm here to meet a friend," he replied truthfully, kinda. Naruto qualified as a friend he supposed, though he definitely was unlike any he ever had.

"A friend?" Sakura said skeptically, folding her arms as she towered over his prone form, "in a ninja training ground?"

"Well, that must mean my friend must be a ninja doesn't it?" he said nonchalantly, closing his eyes back again.

Despite his closed eyes he could feel the girl's gaze trying to bore a hole through him. He could literally hear the gears turning in her head, as she tried to deduce the reasons for his presence there. All of which pertained to rather sensitive issues. Eventually her fidgeting was too much for him.

"I got reinstated," he said deciding to put the girl out of her misery, not really elaborating that he hadn't accepted yet.

"Oh.." Sakura said, apparently satisfied, but now left with even more questions she wasn't sure how to put forward. Well too bad.

The two of them fell into a more comfortable if still a little awkward silence. They belonged to the same batch in the Academy, that's how they knew each other. To say they were friends would have been a gross exaggeration though. They were casual acquaintances if even that. He only knew her as one of Ino's lackeys. So it wasn't really surprising that they had avoided each other's radars altogether.

Not anymore it seemed.

"So, who's this friend you're meeting?" She asked him.

"Uzumaki Naruto," he said, not really knowing how to skirt around a direct question like that, besides if he was being honest maybe the sentiment will be reciprocated, "so what about you? Who are you waiting for?"

Sakura considered him for a moment before seemingly making up her mind.

"I'm waiting for my jounin commander," she said, "before you ask, no I don't know him, I was just assigned and told to report here."

"Maybe someone played a practical joke on you." He ventured.

"I don't think the Hokage has a sense of humor," she snapped irritably at him.

"Oh…. Okay."

Well the plot thickened. Whatever this team was apparently the Hokage had a stake in its formation. When Naruto had dropped Kakashi's name, he hadn't really believed it. Now with Sakura implying what she was, some of his old worries dissipated but as was often the case, new ones took their place. Whatever was going down it was big.

Last time he had bitten off more than he could chew, it really hadn't ended well. Maybe he should walk away while he still had the chance.

"So, who is this Naruto Uzumaki anyway?" Sakura queried, planting herself on the ground not far from him.

"Not anyone you'd know." Shikamaru answered, "he graduated a couple of batches before us."

"And how do you know him?"

"Seriously! What's with the interrogation?" he barked, "Can't you just... wait till whoever it is that you're waiting for comes?"

Sakura's face burned red with indignation and embarrassment.

"Gee, sorry if my questions got too personal," she retorted, before pulling her knees to her chin and wrapping her arms around them. She was now facing away from him.

Shikamaru sighed. Troublesome woman making him feel guilty.

"He was part of the mission I led as a chunin," he explained somewhat reluctantly, "before I was... let go."

He saw Sakura's back stiffen before slowly turning around, her green eyes filled with pity and sorrow as she seemed to understand why he reacted the way he did. It wasn't hard to connect the dots. He had led only one team during his tragically brief stint as a chunin.

"I'm sorry Shikamaru." She said.

"Don't worry about it," he waved off her apology while trying to ignore his own pain at the same time, "you didn't know."

Fortunately he was relieved off the need to dispel the tension as the topic of their conversation chose to make his presence.

"Hey Shika!" The blonde called out as he walked in greeting him, in all of his orange glory while still twenty yards away from him. To complete the picture there was a half-eaten rice-ball in his hand, "you're here early."

"I'd have…Whoa!"

Shikamaru wondered what could have possibly stopped him half-way through a sentence, when he realized Naruto was now openly gaping at Sakura as if not quite sure what he was seeing.

Sakura fidgeted uncomfortably as she withstood his gaze. She turned to Shika as if to ask what his deal was, before the blonde finally opened his mouth to speak. Years from now he would regret not being able to record this moment as Naruto said his first words to Sakura.

"Wow! That almost looks natural," He exclaimed, his voice full of awe, "what'd you do to get that color?"

Sakura was stunned. In all her life she had never met a guy as blunt as the one who was managing a pretty impressive impersonation of a fish at the moment. Even when she had started the Academy her classmates had refrained from making fun of the rather unusual color of her hair. So shocked was she by his tactless inquiry that all she could do was mutter incoherently for a while before finally saying.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm digging your style," The guy told her, "I never thought anyone could pull it off, but I have to admit you do it rather well."

Now Sakura wasn't sure if she should be pleased or outraged. It didn't look like the blonde was joking or being malicious, despite what his goofy appearance suggested. Eventually she decided even if he wasn't making fun of her, fashion-approval from an orange wearing moron couldn't possibly be good. So, outraged it was.

"This. Is. My natural color." She said through gritted teeth.

"Wow! Really?" The boy remained awestruck, seemingly oblivious to the dam of righteous feminine fury about to explode all over him, "damn! I was really hoping you had dyed it, but anyway I am Naruto Uzumaki."

Sakura looked at the proffered hand suspiciously, before shooting Shikamaru a look which screamed 'Is this guy serious?' Shikamaru just shrugged. Sakura would never know how hard he had been trying to hold back his laughter. One of the reasons for his non-verbal gesture was that he really didn't trust himself to speak afraid he'd lose it completely.

"And I think you should come down, waiting there can't possibly be comfortable," Naruto spoke again, this time apparently to the trees lining the training ground not giving Sakura a chance to respond.

A few seconds later, when nothing happened, Sakura decided the guy had a few loose nuts and Shikamaru's theory about this being a practical joke making more sense by the second.

"C'mon man!" He called out again, already losing interest in Sakura, "you're making me look bad here."

'Could this guy get any weirder?' Sakura thought to herself. She took a deep breath ready to tear into the guy when finally a figure walked out of the tree-line, glaring at the blonde. Sakura gasped and even Shikamaru gave a grunt of recognition.

Approaching them was none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

Even fifteen minutes ago if someone had told Sasuke that one day he'd meet someone who can be more obnoxious than Kakashi, he'd have laughed in their face, saying such a thing couldn't be possible.

Its funny how drastically your world-view can change in a few minutes.

This just hadn't been his week. It had started out well enough though. He had successfully eliminated the missing-nin he was after on Monday after cornering them near a hot-spring in Kusa. No witnesses and no hassles whatsoever. He'd then gone on to take some down-time in that town. The journey back had been inconsequential and so come Wednesday he couldn't be faulted for not knowing what was waiting for him back home.

Long story short he'd been literally fired from ANBU and then reinstated as a part of the regular corps under Kakashi of all people.

On Thursday however he'd played off the events of Wednesday as a figment of his imagination when he went to the ANBU HQ where he was promptly told at the very first checkpoint that his security clearance had been revoked.

He'd not taken that well. Nearly an hour of repeated pleading, shouting and threatening had failed to yield any positive results and on seeing the guard's finger itching towards his stun-baton, he had finally accepted his fate and trudged back home, awaiting the next day when he could finally wring Kakashi's neck.

On Friday he placed himself in prime ambush position, out of sight in the cluster of trees surrounding the training ground. It was only then that he belatedly recalled Kakashi's habit of being late. To his surprise however he hadn't even been the first one there. It was Nara Shikamaru who had beaten him to it. A guy he knew from his Academy days.

Strange! He had been sure the guy had been discharged. Then to his dismay, Sakura Haruno another one of his ex-classmates entered the field. These were people he was sure he wouldn't have to deal with ever again.

He forced himself to calm down. It was possible that she was here for a purpose other than what he was here for. Though he had a feeling he was being overly optimistic. It was almost time and no one else seemed to be coming. Plus if he was to be a part of a three man cell, he had a feeling that he was looking at his future teammates. He heard snatches of their conversation. Apparently he hadn't been mistaken about Shikamaru being kicked out of the shinobi program. But the guy claimed he had been reinstated.

Sasuke wondered how he had managed that.

At least things couldn't get worse, he had told himself.

He'd be kicking himself in a little while.

The reason for that made its presence made known. Literally. He could see him coming him from a mile away. His orange clothes and blonde hair would have stood out in an open market, in an empty field the contrast was even more glaring.

Well to be fair the guy wasn't exactly trying to hide himself. He had even greeted Shikamaru from across half the field. A part of Sasuke couldn't help feeling relieved though. That made three, maybe this wasn't to be his team after all. He even managed to enjoy the interaction which succeeded, between the blonde guy and the girl. His comments had left Sakura gaping like a fish and almost completely speechless.

But then something strange happened. The blonde looked straight at his hiding place and spoke.

"And I think you should come down, waiting there can't possibly be comfortable."

Sasuke was shocked. Not since his early days as an ANBU trainee had he been made out as easily as he had just been right now. He waited, maybe he was calling out to his cat or something.

No such luck.

"C'mon man!" He said when he didn't receive a response, "you're making me look bad here."

Reluctantly and more than a little bewildered he came out of his hiding place gaining a gasp of recognition from Sakura.

"You guys know each other?" He said, evidently not missing the reaction of his companions to Sasukes' appearance.

"Sasuke Uchiha used to be our classmate." Shikamaru answered his query.

"Uchiha huh?" Sasuke could see the dots connecting in the blonde's eyes. "Well I guess I'm the only one who needs to be introduced then," the blonde said, "I'm.."

"Not interested." Sasuke interrupted him. Seriously did this guy ever shut up? He was beginning to give him a headache.

The blonde paused mid-sentence studying Sasuke wearing a thoroughly confused expression and his hand extended in an offer of a handshake, before he turned to Sakura.

"Gee, he is a dick isn't he?" He said matter-of-factly.

Sakura who still seemed to be recovering from Sasuke's sudden appearance belatedly realized she was the one Naruto was addressing.

"What?" She asked dazedly.

"Look I don't know what your deal is." Sasuke said irritably, "I am here to see Kakashi Hatake, so it will be better if we can ignore each other till he gets here."

He didn't like the sparkle that entered the blonde's eyes at those words. He liked what he said next even less.

"Well, so are we." He said, "At least me and Shikamaru are. What about you…" He added as an afterthought addressing Sakura.

Sakura for the first time realized she didn't know who her jounin commander was supposed to be? She had been told to be here and like a good soldier she was. She had absolutely no idea who they were. She doubted though that she'd be on team with these guys, not if what Naruto was saying was true anyway. A regular team consisted of three shinobi. The boys were here to meet the same jounin, that left her as the odd-one out.

Maybe she was waiting in the wrong place.

"I don't know, I'm supposed to meet my new team here."

"Tch… Whatever." Sasuke was beginning to lose interest as he turned to put some distance between him and the others, "Don't bother me till he gets here then, and you better brace yourself, we will be waiting a while."

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked a little mystified.

But Sasuke had said all he wanted to say, and moved himself away from the others, to stand and lean on one of the training posts doing his best to ignore them.

"That guy was your classmate? What a douche!" Naruto remarked.

"After 'that' incident, he became an arrogant anti-social jerk." Shikamaru explained.

"What was he like before?"

"…An arrogant anti-social jerk."

"Figures."

"Give him a break okay." Sakura said impatiently coming to Sasuke's defense.

Shikamaru glared at Sakura for a while, wanting to give her a piece of his mind, before deciding it wasn't worth the trouble he would be subjecting himself to. He simply lay back down placing an arm over his eyes.

"Wake me up when he gets here."

Naruto and Sakura stood around a little awkwardly in the silence, before Sakura decided to squat down on the field, Naruto soon imitating her.

"I haven't caught your name yet."

"Sakura Haruno." She answered the blonde, in the hopes it will shut him up.

"Haruno?" Naruto mused, "Any relation to Kizashi Haruno?"

"How do you know my father?" Sakura asked despite herself.

"He led a bunch of us during the invasion to defend the Southern Sector," he said good-naturedly waving his hands, "I remember seeing him fight and wishing I could do half the things he did."

Sakura remembered. Her father had received a glowing commendation from the Jounin Commander himself for his exemplary conduct during the invasion. His actions had prevented the reinforcements of the enemy from getting to the centre of the village something which later proved decisive in turning the tide against them. What made it even more impressive was that he had made that stand against an enemy, which outnumbered his forces of mostly genin by six to one.

"Why aren't you wearing your chunin vest?" She changed the subject, as proud as she was of her father, he was a topic she would rather avoid.

"The Hokage is holding it for me, eagerly awaiting the day I can take it off of her hands." Naruto said.

Sakura felt like kicking herself. In trying to get the conversation out of awkward waters, she had probably made things worse, because despite the blonde's joking tone, she could hear the hint of bitterness coloring it.

"So you're a medic huh?" He said, pointing to the insignia of a slug just over the official Konoha symbol which endorsed the back of her chunin-vest.

"Yeah." Sakura said off-handedly, "What about it?"

"That's really cool."

Her expression softened. Being a medic was something Sakura took a lot of pride in. One of the first things Tsunade had done on being appointed as Hokage, was revive the dwindling state of Konoha's Medical Program. Within six months of her arrival, she had overhauled the entire system. The results were for everyone to see. Konoha now had one medic-nin for every six shinobi. While it was still some way from her goal of one for every four, it was way better than the one in thirteen ratio that was prevalent when she had taken up the mantle. The symbol of the slug was worn with pride by the members of the medical corps.

"Wow! So you must be some sort of genius huh?"

Sakura tried to listen for any trace of condescension or jealousy in his voice. She found none. Despite the sort of weird beginning, she had to admit she was beginning to enjoy his company. This wasn't the first time someone had praised her or gushed about her, but it had always been done mostly out of politeness or professional courtesy. Then there were those who were all smiles while congratulating her on her achievements while poorly concealing their envy. Very rarely had she encountered the sincerity that Naruto was displaying.

This was also the first time since her ill-fated mission when someone wasn't trying to treat her like a delicate sculpture.

"Well…" She said trying to be as modest as she could, when they were interrupted again.

"At least two of you are trying to bond."

The high-pitched squeal of surprise she heard she'd later learn had come from her. But what amazed her was Naruto's reaction, who was now perched atop a training post, with his kunai drawn, even Shikamaru had jerked awake with a start and Sasuke just glared balefully at the newest presence.

"You're late Kakashi," Naruto dismounted from the post as if it was something he did on a regular basis, "thought this was supposed to be important."

"Hmmm….. am I now? Lost track." The man seemed totally unaffected by the chaos he had caused, merely turning a page of the paperback he was perusing.

'So this is Kakashi' Sakura thought to herself, after getting her heart-rate to somewhat normal levels.

She had never felt so… underwhelmed. She knew him by sight, almost everyone in the village did and so did most of the shinobi world. But then with his trademark silver hair and the Konoha headband over one eye, not to mention the mask he did stand-out.

"Well," The man shut the book and pocketed it, "I see everyone's here."

"And then some," Sasuke said still glaring at the jounin.

Sakura realized that the comment was directed at her and shot him an irritated look. She tried to defend the guy but he always made it so hard.

"Now now Sasuke that's hardly the way to talk about your new comrades." Kakashi said placatingly.

"What are you playing at Kakashi?" Sasuke folded his arms, turning his full attention to the jounin, "A standard cell consists of four members, there are five of us here, so unless you're telling me that two of these losers actually combine to have the competence of one, I'm getting out of here."

"Empty threats Sasuke," the jounin's voice retained its usual casual tenor, but Sakura suddenly felt the temperature drop a couple of degrees, "you'll be here for as long as I want you to be."

Sasuke's didn't relax his aggressive stance, but kept his mouth shut. Even Naruto seemed to be affected as he shifted his weight uneasily on the balls of his feet.

The five of them stood in tense silence, following Kakashi's declaration in a stand-off of sorts.

"So, let's commence what we are here for shall we?" Kakashi said cheerfully, "As of today you guys are now part of Team 7."

"…"

"You're kidding."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Kakashi responded to Sasuke's comment, "no, I'm not. Starting Monday we embark on missions under the direct authority of the Hokage."

"So what are we supposed to do for the rest of the day?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"That's up to you," Kakashi replied pulling out his book again.

"That's it?" Sakura voiced her own thoughts.

"Yup," Came the reply, "move along now, and assemble at the Mission Desk on Monday, 8 AM sharp."

More than a little confused Sakura tentatively turned around, to follow the jounin's command, Sasuke had already made himself scarce and was nowhere in sight now, even Shikamaru was trudging out, but Naruto remained rooted to the spot glaring at the jounin or rather at what he was reading.

"Is that Icha-Icha Battle series Vol. 7?" He questioned him.

"Why yes it is," The man seemed pleasantly surprised, "you're a fan I take it."

"Quite the opposite in fact." Naruto said, "I happen to know its trashy smut."

"Do you now?" Kakashi said absent-mindedly, losing his interest in the conversation now that he knew Naruto wasn't a fan, "I'm assuming your low opinion of it didn't stop you from actually reading it."

"Oh I didn't read it," Naruto assured the jounin before walking away and muttering under his breath making sure the he couldn't listen to what he had to say next, "I wrote it."

XxX

Shikamaru was making his way home after being dismissed, going over the events of the day. It had been unexpected to say the least. Years after his greatest failure as a shinobi he was now made a part of a team led by a living legend no less? While the composition of the team didn't inspire much confidence, the fact that it was happening at all said a lot.

Just what was going on in here? Nothing seemed to make sense.

"You don't mind if I join you do you?"He turned to the source of the voice to see their team leader joining him, his nose buried in his book.

"It's a free country." Shikamaru shrugged. "What's on your mind Kakashi-san?"

"A lot of things Nara-san. A lot of things," he replied, "But there's only one which concerns you at the moment. It's about time you made up your mind isn't it?"

"I'd just like to know a little more of what I'm getting into, before I make a decision." Shikamaru didn't bother denying him knowing what Kakashi was talking about.

"Shinobi don't have that luxury."

"It's a good thing that I'm not a shinobi then isn't it?"

"You can never stop being a shinobi Nara-san," Kakashi countered, "the day you graduated the academy your fate was sealed."

"I'm not wearing a head-band," he refuted, "that makes me a civilian and I never gave much thought to the philosophical bullshit you're spouting... its too troublesome."

Kakashi stopped and so did Shikamaru. Both men faced each other in a showdown of sorts.

"Why don't you come with me Nara-san?" He said, "There is something I'd like to show you."

Shikamaru weighed the jounin's words. This wasn't a command. Not even a concealed one. It was a genuine request. He realized what the man was doing. If it had been an order Shikamaru could have refused, probably would have too. But a request on the other hand played on his curiosity. So with that knowledge in hand he did what he knew he should do.

It was still his choice after all.

"Lead the way." He told the man.

XxX

Shikamaru stared at the pile of boxes in front of him, raising an eyebrow at Kakashi, wondering what this was about. They were currently at the Hokage Tower or to be precise at the mission desk. The place housed fifty chunins at any given time, working tirelessly to classify missions based on their importance and threat-level.

Kakashi had requested a work-station and rallied some instructions to one of them and was promptly assigned one. It wasn't long before the same chunin came bearing three boxes stacked on top of each other filled with files and dumped them on the table. The man could barely see over the stacks and the heavy thump the boxes made on the table was indicative of their rather impressive weight.

"What's this?" Shikamaru asked the jounin

"Every month, Konoha receives hundreds of missions between the ranks of B and C." Kakashi opened the lid of one of the boxes and studied the contents, "Statistically almost five percent of these missions are misclassified, something which should interest you given your history."

Shikamaru kept his mouth shut, despite the jounin's blunt manner of speaking and let him continue.

"The reasons for these errors range from clerical errors to misinformation by the clients themselves," he elaborated, "it won't be wrong to say, that because of these errors we have lost a lot of good shinobi on the field not to mention the strain it puts on our resources."

"Now we can't go on and penalize the clients, doesn't make us look good, we do what we can to make sure to minimize them at the mission desk, but we haven't had much success." Kakashi flicked through one of the files before replacing it and reaching for another one.

"Hokage-sama wants to work out a system where this doesn't remain a problem," he folded his arms and met Shikamaru's eyes, "which is where you come in."

"Why now?" Shikamaru questioned the jounin, "If it has been that big a problem, why hasn't anything been done yet?"

"We had to act sometime," Kakashi said, "what you've to understand is why this problem has flown under the radar. These low-ranked mission are taken up by low-ranked shinobi, manly genin or chunin."

"Who aren't all that important to the big picture." Shikamaru failed to keep the bitterness out of his voice, "Yeah I get it. Who cares if a few grunts lose their lives because of carelessness on the desk of a glorified clerk?"

"Regardless," Kakashi continued, ignoring his last comment, "The losses are something the Hokage feels could and should be avoided."

"So you want me to devise a system to weed out these potential death-traps," Shikamaru said following the thread of the conversation.

"Yes and no." Kakashi said, "Yes we want to filter them but we can't reject them either.."

"Doesn't make us look good with the clients," Shikamaru interrupted, "I get it."

"The missions which you filter out, will be then handed to a team which is equipped to handle them." Kakashi concluded.

"In this case I am guessing its Team7."

"That's right."

"Why Team 7 though?" Shikamaru asked the man.

"What do you mean?"

"You could have christened us Team 47 and achieved the same results." He said, "So, why Team 7?"

"If its under the direct authority of the Hokage, its less likely to be influenced by other forces." Kakashi shrugged, "Won't you agree Nara-san?"

"So let me get this straight," Shikamaru took a deep breath, that explanation on its face sounded good enough, but he was done taking things at face-value, he decided to press forward with a different concern though, "you want me to devise a way to sieve through mis-classified missions, to prevent unnecessary field casualties only for them to be taken by a team which consists of my acquaintances?"

He wanted to say friends, but Naruto was the closest thing he had to one in this team. While he cared little about Sakura and not a damn about Sasuke, still they were people he knew.

"That's exactly what I want you to do."

"How is one team expected to handle all these missions?" Shikamaru prodded, "If what you're saying is true, you will need more than one squad."

"I'm not saying its perfect." Kakashi admitted, "But this is just the start. If we succeed, we will expand."

"In that case," he sighed, "I am going to say no."

"I'd beg you to reconsider."

"There is nothing to reconsider." Shikamaru said, "I won't have another death on my conscience. So thanks Kakashi-san, but no thanks."

"On the contrary Nara-san." Kakashi said, freezing Shikamaru in his place as he had started to walk away, "If you walk away now, you'd be responsible for every death which results from your inaction."

"How dare you?" Shikamaru hissed venomously turning around to face him.

"I dare, because few are gifted with the ability to change things and even fewer are afforded the opportunity to do so. You've been given both but you're walking away because you're too much of a coward to take any responsibility," Kakashi refused to back down. "You want to make sure what happened to you doesn't happen to anyone else? This is your chance."

Shikamaru had never been so angry in his life, he clenched his fist hard enough for his nails to break skin using the pain to control himself.

"I'm done here." Shikamaru said coldly before turning around and storming out of the tower leaving the chunin around baffled.

Kakashi watched the chunin walk away, thoroughly satisfied with the results of that encounter. What came next would be a less pleasant experience by far.

Reporting to the Hokage.

XxX

"So he walked away."

"He did."

"You knew he would."

"I was counting on it."

Tsunade Senju, rubbed her forehead with her fingers trying to abate the headache building up behind her temples. This man was the best she had and one of the only ones she could trust. She considered herself a fairly straightforward person, and Kakashi's games got too much sometimes even for her.

"Enlighten me Kakashi." She said bitingly, "How's that a good thing?"

Kakashi's posture was slouched and his manner lazy and languid. To a casual observer he wouldn't appear to be anything but relaxed. The absence of his favorite book however was a tell-tale sign of how seriously he was taking it.

"He wouldn't be worth the effort if he didn't. He even saw through things I wasn't expecting him to," Seeing the signs of danger on his boss' face he continued hurriedly, "regardless he will be back of that I'm sure."

"I gave you a long leash on this one Hatake," Tsunade stated, "even overlooked the fact that you broke protocol by telling a civilian the details of a sensitive operation, something which should have had you court-marshaled mind you, so you better be right about this, because if he doesn't it will be on your head."

"Trust me on this Hokage-sama. If this venture of yours is to succeed we'll need him." The man told her, "Moreover, knowing what he does now, he won't be able to walk away from this. No, I'm not worried about Shikamaru, the rest however I'm not so sure."

"What do you mean?" The jounin's statement caught her completely off-guard.

"Well… how do I put this delicately?" Kakashi mused out loud, "The way Team-7 is right now, they are about as functional as a defective explosive tag."

Location: ANBU HQ (Special Ops Division)

Time: 4:30 PM

A heavily bandaged one armed and one-eyed man sat behind a rather imposing but simple desk. The room was dark without a window. The only source of light was a dim light bulb hanging overhead. Just how he preferred it. 'The Roots after all had no use for the sun', he mused sardonically while intently studying the files as one of his subordinates crouched in a gesture of supplication on one knee with his head bowed.

He had been in that position for over ten minutes now. The man however paid little attention to the plight of his subordinate. He had bigger worries at the moment.

Tsunade had made her move it seemed.

"Monitor the situation closely." He told his crouched minion, "And keep me abreast of any new developments."

"Hai, Danzo-sama." The man intoned as he got to his feet and dismissed himself.

There you have it. All done. Hope it lived up to expectations. If not feel free to tear into it. And thanks for all the feedback for the previous chapters. They've been helpful. Signing off with the Character profile of Sakura.

Until next time

Character Profile

Sakura Haruno

Affiliation: Konoha

Registration ID: 0828

Rank: Chunin(Medic)

Teams: Team-15(formerly), Border Patrol Squad, Team-7 (Currently)

Bio: Sakura is the daughter of veteran shinobi Kizashi Haruno. Her potential was visible to her instructors from her Academy days itself. It was later validated when she graduated as the Kunoichi of the year. Showed great aptitude in the field of genjutsu, before finding her true calling as a Medic-nin. Believed to be one of the brightest of her generation, she caught the eye of Tsunade Senju herself.