If anything at all, to be saying Kakashi's training was just grueling for the three genins would be quite an understatement. First, thirty laps around Konoha followed by taijutsu practice for the next few hours, and that was just the morning part of the schedule. The rest of the day was just plain shuriken practice and dangerous hide and seek matches with Kakashi in the forest of death. Hell, the only time they could rest peacefully was when they sat to eat, just for a few minutes though. That and when Kakashi sat down to read a chapter of his Icha Icha novel he found interesting.

The training regime was taking it's toll on Yoshi now. A guy who was never any good at taijutsu or had a decent amount of stamina, was finding it hard to keep up with the training. Most of the time, Yoshi just kept looking for excuses to dodge the training periods. But, he never found a way out of it due to Kakashi. How does he always find out what am I up to, Yoshi kept asking himself. Kakashi kept a tight schedule and even if he himself kept coming late, he did not tolerate any of his students doing the same.

When they were not training, most of their time passed by completing C-rank and D-rank missions. And most of those missions incuded catching Sora, the fire daimyo's wife's cat or household works for civilians like painting the fences or lawn-mowing.

One day, while doing one such so called mission…

"Kakashi Hatake", a purple haired ANBU came out of nowhere and greeted the jounin. Kakashi simply nodded signaling that she had her attention."You have been called to Lord Hokage's office." , saying that the kunoichi handed a white scroll to him and vanished into thin air. Kakashi opened and read the scroll, his eyes which radiated incredible laziness were now stern and serious. As he finished reading it, Kakashi instructed Sakura and Neji to complete their current mission and go home. Sakura realizing the situation nodded her head in agreement, Neji remained silent. Yoshi was peeping through one of the many holes of the fence he was painting. Yoshi had a real sense of eagerness; if something caught his attention then he could not sleep until he found out about it. The current scene had caught his attention and he would not rest until he found out why his sensei left in such a hurry.

"Hey Guys", Yoshi was now standing next to them, "What's the deal with sensei?" "Don't know, don't want to know. And besides, the quicker we finish this work, the faster I can get away from you two" , was Neji's reply. Yoshi tended to ignore that statement. Since their training started, Neji has been acting pretty hostile to his team mates. It was easy enough for Sakura to avoid his rudeness, considering her fan girl status, but not for Yoshi. He didn't know why Neji had such a superiority complex. If there could be a duel with the Hyuga, then he will know who's beneath whom.

"Anyways", Yoshi said while shaking his head, " I think we should check out what's going on. I am getting sick of these stupid errands for missions they assign us to do. And besides, the owner will not even notice if we are gone. The guy is sleeping like a baby in diapers." "I don't know, Yoshi", Sakura told in a soft tone, "If Kakashi sensei finds out, he will double the thirty laps to sixty."

"I wouldn't worry about that if I were you" , Yoshi answered before taking out a book from his backpack, "This is the newest edition of Icha Icha Paradise novel. If he threatens us with punishment, then we will just give this to him." Yoshi looked really proud of the idea.

"Hey loon, are you really planning to bribe your own sensei to get away with something like that" ,Neji said indifferently.

"No one's asking you to join. And I certainly don't want you around the hokage. Your byakugan eyes can see through anything, right and that place will be practically crawling with kunoichis, and who knows what you are going to look at with those eyes of yours." Yoshi giggled as he finished his sentence." I bet you guys are never allowed near a public toilet, people can get nervous around your 'all seeing eyes' when they piss."

Neji was now giving Yoshi the angry look. Just like once you take a vaccine, you get immune to that disease, Yoshi has had so much of that look that he was now impervious to it.

"So what do you think Sakura-san" ,Yoshi asked the kunoichi waiting for a reply.

"Yoshi, I knew you are a jackass but I never thought that…..", Sakura was interjected by Yoshi ,"That I could conjure up such a genius plan. I know, I know I am the best. No need for applauds.", he said while waiving his hands in the air as if addressing an audience.

Sakura continued, " That you could go so low as to buy one of those stupid perverted books."

Yoshi was expecting a little praise but what he heard was a little embarrassing. He mentally cursed her, stupid book worm, as if you are so pure that sun flowers spring out of your butt.

Nonetheless the three genins decided to follow their sensei to the tower. Neji was the last to agree albeit reluctantly.

At the hokage's office…..

Hiruzen Sarutobi referred to by many as the Professor, the God of Shinobis, the man who has learnt all of Konoha's jutsus. The man was considered the strongest Hokage in his prime, trained by the Shodaime and Nidaime, many envied his power still today. Yet despite his incredible reputation, he was now reduced to a pervert. Holding an orange book in his hand, he was sending out loud chuckles through the air.

That Jiraiya certainly knows how to write. How does he think of such things? That research of his is certainly paying off, I guess. He remembered Jiraiya often reduced to a pulp by girls when he gets caught while 'researching'. Looking down, the old man kept blushing while reading the book.

"Jiisan" , shouted a young boy from the other end of the room."What's up?" , Konohamaru said.

The door opened to reveal a young boy of about 6 years. That was Konohamaru, Hiruzen's grandson.

Now when you are doing something perverted and somebody dashed through the door, what would you do? Even the greatest of Jounin's have trouble, though they have cat like reflexes honed by years of combat experience, to decide what to do during such a situation. Same was the case, with the Hokage. As Konohamaru started walking towards him, he hurriedly hid the book within a pile of paperwork on the table.

"What were you trying to hide, grandpa?", the boy asked. Hiruzen tried to shrug off and change the subject, but Konohamaru was onto him now.

"Hokage-sama" , a voice came from the other end of the table. The old man and his grandson looked up. Thanking Kami for the distraction, Hiruzen thought 'you're a lifesaver, Kakashi'.

"Ah…just the man I was looking for. Glad you could make it in time. Whoa…", the Hokage paused, "You made it in time. Kakashi made it in time. That must be some kind of record for you."

Kakashi was not at all annoyed by his remark. Hiruzen continued ,"There's someone I would like you to meet." As he finished, an old man in his fifties entered the room. The man had grey hair and a beard, spectacles hanging down to the middle of his nose and a white towel over a sleeveless shirt.

"Tazuna-sama" , Kakashi greeted humbly. Tazuna nodded, "Hey Kakashi, long time no see." Kakashi shook his hands. "You were so little when I first saw you. Now look at you, all grown up."

Tazuna was a bridge builder by trade. After the Third Shinobi world war ended, Tazuna had been quite helpful in rebuilding Kusagakure and Konohagakure with his expertise. It was in those times that Kakashi had once saved him from some thugs. Tazuna had remained grateful to him since then.

"Enough with introductions now" , Hiruzen interfered, "Tazuna is here for you. He wants you to..."

"Gently touching her lips with his, Matsuo realized he was pressing her breasts now. His warm hands rubbing against her belly, he let his long repressed feelings take over. Holding her head, Matsuo forced his sensei beneath him, wanting to dominate over her. Her huge breasts were now being suckle dby him, while his hands went down her panties into her vag…", Konohamaru was loudly reading the book his grandfather hid.

'Hey, it's not your age to read all this stuff Konohamaru." , Hiruzen retorted."So is yours, old man" , replied Konohamaru.

'That little brat' Hiruzen was now angry. How did he find the book. The boy was now looking at the dazed faces of the three men in the room.

Looking at the old hokage, he replied, "I am your grandson, jiisan. There's nothing you can hide that I can't find. By the way, what the hell is this? I can't understand a thing written in it. How do you keep reading this all the time?" The hokage was blushing heavily, his face as red as a tomato in a summer market. Kakashi and Tazuna were now giggling so hard, it could almost pass out they were laughing. Not quite understanding the notion, Konohamaru left the room. I am going to get that boy for this someday, Hiruzen mentally noted himself.

"Getting back to the subject at hand" , Hiruzen coughed, not wanting to be embarrassed any further, "Tazuna-san has requested for an escort to his village, the Land of Waves(Nami no Kuni). He fears that there maybe a threat to his life."The old man discontinued, wanting Tazuna to take over.

Tazuna spoke, "I have been making a bridge to connect Nami no Kuni with the Land of Fire. That bridge will help stable my country's poor economy. I am working hard to complete what I have started. But things have gotten awry with Gato in the picture."

Kakashi raised his eyebrow to that name, he had heard about him. Tazuna continued, "Gato is one of the wealthiest businessmen of the region. But that's just his cover up, his real money making schemes involve extortion, blackmailing and all sorts of villainous activities. He owns the only shipping company that ferries goods and materials to and from Nami no Kuni. In a way, he owns that place. My bridge will be a threat to his business. That's why he wants me dead. And the villagers don't want to go against him, when he has an army of thugs at his disposal."

"So, you want me for protection." Kakashi remarked.

"Not just you, Kakashi. I am enlisting your genin team cell to accompany you as well. It's about time they had a decent mission." The professor said.

The jounin sighed after hearing that."I am sorry but I don't think they are ready."

"YES, WE ARE.", shouted someone from behind the door. The door opened with a loud thud to reveal Yoshi in a really bad mood, followed by an equally angry Sakura and an angry Ne…..sorry, an expressionless Neji.

Two ANBUs were trying to pull Yoshi back but to no avail."Hey, kid you can't go in there. " ,shouted one of them to Yoshi.

"You mean after all those months of your stupid training and hard work; you still think we cannot take care of ourselves. Come on, give me a break." said the frustrated puppeteer.

Sakura entered the room while Neji stayed by the door, his head slightly tilted to the left.

"Loon's right" , Neji remarked.

"Thanks….heeeyyyyyyyyyyy" , Yoshi was now surprised at that nickname.

Neji continued, "You have been training us for a long time. But we need an actual mission to assess ourselves. So far, we still don't know what we are capable of. A mission with real life threats can show us our weaknesses."

"I completely agree with Neji-kun. All we have been doing is catch that stupid cat or paint walls. That was not at all what I pictured when I graduated from the academy." Sakura replied.

Kakashi looked up to the roof. Neji's words had reason. But he didn't think his students were ready enough to take on such a mission. And from what he had heard about Gato, there won't be just petty sword wielding thugs waiting for them. He knew Tazuna was hiding a lot more information. He turned to see Yoshi looking at him eagerly while Sakura meddled with her fingers besides Neji, whose white pupil less eyes were fixed on the one eyed ninja.

"Alright, I have made my mind. You say you want a real mission, well you just got one."

The hokage was as happy as the three genins, Yoshi was even playing merry go round in the room. At last, he thought. We get to do real ninja work.

"Your mission will be a C-rank mission. You all will report before the village gate tomorrow at 8. So, if I were you, I would start packing." , Kakashi said as he walked away from the room.

The genins left the room with a satisfied expression. Tazuna was the last to leave. Now, the hokage was again left to himself, all alone.

Trying to exploit the situation, he thought it was best if he resumed what he was doing before all this ruckus began and destroyed his day.

"Oh… my beloved Icha Icha, how I missed you." , the old man slid his hands into the space between the paper pile where he hid the book last time. But, soon something shocked him.

"Konohamaru." , Sarutobi shouted, "The brat took my book."

Meanwhile, somewhere else…..

"Man, this is so cool. No wonder jiisan, has a closet full of these." A young boy was reading an orange book. He was blushing and was inches away from a nosebleed.