AN: Don't own.

Sunagakure

Hisoka smiled as he watched some children play in Suna's street. He was currently on top of Suna's archive building, which held Suna's less dangerous jutsus and other scrolls holding various kinds of insensitive knowledge. Scrolls with more sensitive, and dangerous, writings were kept in Suna's underground vault guarded by Suna shinobi.

The top of the archive building was where Hisoka had come for peace of mind since he was little. Being only a few days away from his twentieth birthday, he still reveled in the quiet the building top afforded him. Personally, he had rarely used the scrolls in the archive building, in his mind all the stuff worth knowing was hidden away in Suna's underground tunnel system - not that anyone knew that he was aware of such a location as it was a highly guarded secret after all. It wasn't his fault he was a light sleeper and that he could hear his Uncle Ebizo sleep talking in the next room.

Hisoka snorted in amusement as he remembered all the things he heard his Uncle say when the elderly man was asleep. It turned out that the quiet, rational shinobi was actually quite the gossip – when he was asleep that is; Hisoka could never get Ebizo to reveal anything while the man was awake. Lost in his memories, Hisoka turned his face upward to soak up the sun and enjoyed his time off from missions.

He had just returned from a mission three days ago, he had stopped a rather large network of bandits that had been ravaging several towns in the Land of Wind. It took him two weeks to find all the bandits and put a stop to them, permanently. The cash reward from the mission had been high as all of the towns that were affected pooled their money in exchange for Suna's help.

The success of the mission should go a long way with the Land of Wind Daimyo in increasing his favor with Suna. Frequently, missions that could go to Suna were offered to other Hidden Villages, the Hidden Leaf in particular as it was larger and had a higher successful mission rate.

Hisoka sighed, it was most likely due to the Leaf's willingness to work in teams instead of depending on individual effort like Suna. This is not to say that Suna shinobi didn't work in teams, they did on occasion, but there was a focus on individual missions. It was something that Hisoka did not agree with, personally.

Hisoka shook himself out of his thoughts, Suna politics was never something he enjoyed thinking about. Though he loved his homeland and would do anything to protect it, he disagreed with some of its policies. It was a point of contention with him and his grandmother.

Speaking of, Hisoka perked up when he sensed a very familiar chakra signature slowly come into his sensing range. By its movement it would be on the roof, if it was heading to him that is, in a couple of minutes. His sensory abilities were average in comparison to some of the more elite sensors in the village. He was able to detect one's chakra and even their chakra nature, but it got muddled when there were more than seven chakra signatures he was trying to detect as they all blended together.

Hisoka waited in silence as the familiar chakra signature came to a rest beside him, he feigned being asleep even when he was kicked in the side.

"I know you're awake and aware that I am here, Hisoka. You can't pull a fast one on me, I've known you since you were a baby," came an old, slightly amused voice.

He opened his bright green eyes and gave a bright smile at the figure in front of him.

Hisoka slowly stood, eventually towering over the smaller woman. It was something he always teased her about when he finally passed her in height when he was thirteen.

"Hello, Grandmother. What are you doing here? Dinner isn't for a couple of hours," he said to Chiyo. Though he didn't live with his Grandmother and Uncle anymore, he had found his own apartment over a year ago, he still had dinner with them at least once a week to catch up and enjoy each other's company.

Chiyo gave a hum in agreement and her face grew tight.

It would have been unnoticed by anyone else but this woman raised him as her own, there was very little she could hide from him. His eyes picked up every little detail on his Grandmother's face.

Hisoka grew concerned, what could have his Grandmother so worried?

"Grandmother, what is it?"

She looked him in the eye, "The Kazekage has summoned you."

He nodded in understanding and they both left the roof and headed toward the Kazekage Tower, nothing more needed to be said.

It seemed that his time off had ended.

Kazekage's Office

The Kazekage's Office was a spacious room fitting a huge, round table fitting 12 chairs. When one walks in their gaze is quickly taken up by three giant statues that take up an entire wall and reach a height of at least fifteen feet. They were depictions of three past Kazekage that had died at some point in time.

Hisoka entered the Kazekage's Office and stopped a few feet from the table, watching as Chiyo made her way to her seat next to Ebizo. Confusion fell over him, though he didn't show it, as he took note of all the occupants in the room.

The Fourth Kazekage was there, of course, facing Hisoka directly. Hisoka only recognized four of the occupants, his Uncle and Grandmother who had been on the Suna Council since the Second Kazekage. An elite Suna jonin by the name of Baki, he was the youngest member on the council; he had been on several missions with Hisoka in the past, his physical prowess making him a devastating opponent. And a jonin called Sajo, who Hisoka only recognized as he was always present when the Kazekage handed out missions. The other nine, Hisoka did not know by name but he had seen them throughout the Tower.

Hisoka's confusion stemmed from his wondering as to why all the members of Suna's Council where present, as only Sajo and the Kazekage were present when missions were handed out. Though if his Grandmother and Uncle were both here it couldn't be anything good.

"Hisoka."

He looked at the Kazekage.

"Yes, Lord Kazekage? How may I be of assistance?" He hated being so formal but it was necessary when dealing with so many Seniors.

The Kazekage gave nothing away as he spoke, "A weapon of the village has been stolen and we need it retrieved."

Hisoka nodded, "Of course, Lord Kazekage. What kind of weapon? Is it a Forbidden Jutsu?"

The Kazekage said nothing as one of the council members spoke, "It is no concern of you as to what kind of weapon it is, just know that Suna desperately needs it back."

Hisoka mentally frowned, usually he was given more details than that, "Okay, then who stole it?"

At this the Kazekage visibly frowned but again gave no answer. It was Ebizo who did, "It seems that five days ago three jonin level Iwagakure ninja infiltrated the village through unknown means," at this the all on the council gave displeased looks, "we are still looking into it, though it might be an inside job. They knew exactly what they were looking for as they came in the middle of the night, took the… weapon," Hisoka's eyes narrowed at his Uncle's pause, "and left all in the span of two hours without being detected. They likely have sealing abilities as the weapon in question has an immense amount of power that would have needed to be subdued before being taken."

Hisoka's confusion grew, on one hand it explained why the full Suna Council was here. A possible traitor in the Suna shinobi ranks was to be taken extremely seriously. But on the other hand, what was this weapon that required sealing expertise and why did three Iwagakure jonin risk their lives to steal it? It was true that Suna and Iwa had been enemies since the time of the Second Kazekage due to the close proximity of the two villages but neither village had dared infiltrate each other's villages. At least, this was what civilians were told. The truth was that both Iwa-nin and Suna-nin attempted to get into the other's village but had always failed, but that had been years and years ago. Now, such a brazen attack meant…

Hisoka stiffened, "You don't think?" He let the words go unsaid.

"Yes, as of now, we are considering the possibility that this as an act of war," said Baki with no small amount of steel in his voice.

Hisoka felt himself go cold at the thought of war with Iwagakure. It could spill into the other Hidden Villages, highly unlikely as neither village had outside allies, but the threat of another Shinobi World War sent chills down Hisoka's spine. He had heard horror stories from his Grandmother and Uncle, it was not something he took lightly.

Hisoka's face hardened, "Where are the Iwa shinobi now?"

The Kazekage answered, "Five days ago we tracked them into the desert but made no move to intercept. We thought the weapon would be beyond their ability to control, seems we were wrong." Hisoka could practically hear the derision in the Kazekage's voice at his statement.

"Five days?" Hisoka questioned. "It would have taken them at least three to get through the desert, assuming they made it. And it's another six days to get to Iwa. Why are you deploying a mission so late, they are possibly only four days away from the Village Hidden by Rocks."

It was Chiyo who spoke with a side glance at the Kazekage, "As Rasa said, we thought the weapon beyond their control. And recently there was sandstorm that should have forced the Iwa shinobi to make some sort of protection with their Earth Release, it would have waylaid them for at most two days." She was right, sandstorms in the Suna desert tended to last a couple of days and the longest recorded sandstorm was a month and half.

Hisoka nodded in understanding though he did not understand why Chiyo glanced at the Kazekage who in turn was giving her a hard look.

Another council member spoke up, "You have been chosen due to your sensory skill which should, at least, give you their general location once you are out of the desert. They are headed back to the Land of Earth so head in that direction and you should be able to sense them soon after if not before. And we are sure your summoning pact with the Owls of the Mite Forest will aid your tracking and capture. You are also Suna's fastest shinobi, this is a time sensitive mission as you won't be able to infiltrate Iwagakure on your own, so failure is not an option. We are unsure if the enemy has a sensory type so your extreme control of your chakra might be needed in combating such a skill, for now operate under the assumption that they do."

Hisoka nodded once more in understanding.

"As a shinobi of Suna, the completion of this mission is paramount. Iwagakure cannot have this weapon, do what you must, even if it means destroying the weapon," said the Kazekage with a dark look in his eyes.

Hisoka gave a stiff nod, "Yes, Lord Kazekage. I won't let the village down."

He quickly left the Kazekage's Office and walked down the stairs of the tower. As he walked out of the tower, he heard murmuring right by the exit. He turned and saw two children; they were around ten by the looks of it. One was a girl with blonde hair that was parted into four distinct pig tails on the sides of her hair, she was the one murmuring to a boy who resembled the Kazekage.

Hisoka realized they must have been the Kazekage's children and, hold on, wasn't there three of them? He quickly removed all distractions from his mind as he went to apartment to get ready for the mission and his departure.

Hisoka gave a mournful sigh, it seemed he would miss dinner.