"A mission?" One of Gai's illustrious eyebrows rose up skeptically, "I thought you were in reserve for now."

"I thought I was too…" Kakashi murmured, looking back down at the message after the Messenger Hawk had flown away.

"But it must be urgent if Lady Hokage didn't just send someone out here to get you," Gai folded his arms.

"Yeah…" Kakashi looked up at Gai, and with a nod, the two of them quickly went up to the Hokage's Office. Gai didn't necessarily have to follow him, but this intrigued him too. What kind of mission would the Hokage actually be willing to send Kakashi on during such a time?

Kakashi had barely tapped on the Hokage's door before she had granted him entrance. He stepped in, walking up to her desk with Gai waiting outside. He figured Tsunade would've asked him to leave if he came in anyway.

"Kakashi…" She looked up from her desk to him, hands folded neatly together.

"You had a mission for me ma'am?" He asked, "Was I requested specifically?"

Tsunade nodded, "Yes. You and your squad."

This actually surprised Kakashi a little, "Squad Seven too?"

The Hokage nodded again, "Yes. As unusual as it sounds, Squad Seven was specifically requested from this client for a mission."

"… What level of mission?"

"It's a C-Rank," She looked back down at a piece of parchment on her desk, "The client- Hiroto Isamu -heard about your success with the Land of Waves mission; and how you were able to take down Zabuza Momochi. He was quite adamant in his request for you."

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed a little, "I see… What does the mission entail?"

………………………………………….

"Yes! Finally! It's been forever since we've had a C-Rank!" Naruto cheered as he and the rest of the squad met up at the Leaf Village Gate.

"It has been a long time," Sakura agreed, "Just don't do anything stupid, alright Naruto?"

Naruto groaned, "Why do you always assume that I'll do something stupid, Sakura?"

"Maybe because you always do," She hissed back, "Just focus."

"Are we ready to head out?" Sasuke asked Kakashi, not paying any attention to his teammates' bickering as usual.

Kakashi nodded, "Yeah," He glanced back at Sakura and Naruto, who was still sulking a little, "You guys ready?"

"Yes Sensei," Sakura nodded.

"Yup!" Naruto quickly switched gears from being sulky to being determined.

With another nod, Squad Seven started setting off to meet with their client: Hiroto Isamu. Kakashi took the rear as usual, thinking deeply about the contents of their mission. They were to meet up with the client on the Land of Fire's northeast border and escort him back to his home past the Fire Country. Sounded easy enough. But once again, Kakashi's pessimistic mind kept on telling him: "Oh, don't worry. There'll be plenty of bandits and quite possibly enemy ninja to fight. They could never make it easy."

Kakashi remembered the short conversation he had with Gai before he left:

"An escort mission, huh?" The Green Beast had said, "Sounds too easy. But then again, escorts are never easy. It should give you plenty of time to asses your students' progress though; I always like that about C-Ranks."

"Yeah…" Kakashi shrugged, "Though it does seem odd, doesn't it? That my squad would be selected?"

"I suppose," Gai agreed, then smirked, "Though it may just be your pessimism catching up with you."

Kakashi gave a collective 'hmph', "Probably. Knowing me."

"… Just follow the instructions the Hokage gave you," Gai said in a more serious tone, "I'm sure you'll only need your taijutsu for most of this anyway."

"… Yeah… Guess you're right."

Gai sensed the restlessness in Kakashi's voice, and was aware of his discomfort. They still weren't sure what would happen if the curse mark actually activated… He was sure that's what worried Kakashi.

"Good luck."

Kakashi still felt extremely unsure about how the curse mark would hold up. However, he had to complete the mission he was sent to do; no matter what. Though it strike him as odd how the client was already at the border yet he refused to go the extra miles on his own. He definitely had someone after him.

Kakashi was surprised at how much the group's pace had quickened over time. It seemed that even Naruto had put on a game face of sorts as they made their way to the border. As another pleasant surprise, Kakashi found that he barely had to do any fighting at all. The moment a bandit or someone of a similar fashion appeared, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura would immediately take charge, taking down the enemy swiftly and efficiently.

But these were just bandits. Kakashi knew there would be much harder obstacles to overcome in the future, though he had the utmost faith in his squad. And after seeing how well they worked together now, his faith was fully renewed. He felt a swell of pride grow in his chest.

"Don't get too cocky now, Kakashi…" He told himself, "It hasn't even begun yet."

He knew it was true, but he wished it wasn't. For one day, the Copy Ninja wished he could have a smooth, simple, run-of-the-mill assignment, even though he knew that would never happen.

Nor was that going to be the case here. He could feel it.

Author's Note:

This chapter was uber short, and I apologize for that! But I wanted to separate the introduction of the mission and the actual mission itself into separate chapters, so yeah! You can blame the length on my sense of "organization" I guess. XD

In other news, have you all read the latest Naruto manga??? O.o Oh MAAAN! I mean, I never liked Danzo to start with, but jeez louise! We're all doomed!