Disclaimer: The universe of Naruto is not my own. The words I use and the order I use them are, though. At least, I think they are.

Though it could be argued, it was a common opinion that the most powerful man in all of Konoha was the Hokage. Over the years, the state of the fire lord often changed, but there was something to be said when the person viewed as the nation's most talented shinobi was an elderly man.

Sarutobi was indeed getting on in years, and as a result, he often slept longer hours than he had in his prime. People usually respected his need for sleep, however, as there were perks attached to the title of 'Fire Shadow'. Only during emergencies were his precious underlings allowed to wake him in the night. There were nights when the old man went to bed aware that he was probably going to be prematurely roused at some point. Political crises, natural disasters, and urgent calls for help from his populace were not to be ignored. Still, he hadn't been expecting his night aide to burst into his chambers in the wee hours in the morning on that particular night.

Sarutobi awoke to his employee's calm declarations of the need for the fire shadow to wake up. He gave no details of the situation, but that wasn't at all abnormal. As an aide to the hokage, there were many things you were not to probe. If there was something you were meant to know, you often told that you had the authorization to be clued in on it. Kakashi Hatake had given no such indication, so the assistant hadn't asked for the details. Instead, he instructed the former ANBU and his current entourage to wait in the hokage's office until he was ready for them.

Sasuke sat very quietly in the four minutes they waited, but his gaze constantly flew back to Kakashi, who had been withholding information for too long. What was this even about? It was obviously important, but the Uchiha couldn't be blamed for his curiosity. He'd only been dragged out of bed and forced to play telephone between two grown men without any indication of the reasoning behind the requests.

He thought of asking Sakura, who was sitting with a solemn expression, but aside from whatever had prompted her sudden haircut and Iruka or Kakashi sitting on either side of her, the boy thought the better of pressing the issue(especially with the way Iruka was fidgetting).

For an adult, patience was a key element to success. As a teacher, the virtue held more value than gold. Iruka knew this, but he couldn't stop himself from glancing at the door. Four minutes to a brain trained to worry and obsess like the chuunin's, the span crossed the twenty-minute threshold.

Any questions of punctuality aside, the hokage still made his inevitable appearance, haggard but dignified. The man gave a nod of respect to those ninja in his office before slowly proceeding to sit behind his desk.

"So… you wanted to see me, Kakashi?" Sarutobi asked, folding his hands behind the crystal ball adorning his desk's surface. The sound made a slight swish in an atmosphere that could have very easily given witness to a pin dropping.

"Yes, sir," the addressed replied with respect, rising to his feet from his makeshift-chair on the ground. The gray-haired ninja strode towards the desk purposefully and put his hands in his pockets. For someone facing an emergency, Kakashi kept a cool head. Though, the hokage had to note, the man's face looked like it had taken a bit of abuse. Kakashi didn't often sport bruises in such a way.

"As of last evening, Sakura received a message that was signed by Naruto Uzumaki."

The old man's face shot up attentively, and Sasuke suddenly looked like he had been informed of a betrothal to a hedgehog. Kakashi took no notice of these reactions and simply dropped Sakura's crumpled leaf on the table.

Sarutobi gently picked it up and nudged it open to fnd that anything that may have been written on it was crumbling away, but also realized that if it was written on organic material, the message was probably less than a week old.

"It was tied to a squirrel, sir." Kakashi informed the man, who had suddenly noticed an orange hair in the mess. The hokage blinked and examined it after Kakashi's comment before shaking his head with a chuckle.

Sasuke, if anyone had been paying attention, looked like his betrothal had been cancelled and replaced with a feast in honor of Itachi.

"Kakashi, you do realize this isn't legible, don't you?" Sarutobi asked, waiting for the informational gap to be filled.

"Sakura informed me that it had originally read as 'I am here'." the masked ninja replied.

"Ah," Sarutobi stroked his chin thoughtfully before peering up again at Team 7's leader from beneath his hat. "-and you've checked the credibility of this claim?"

Kakshi pulled out Sakura's envelopes and let them clatter to the table, where once again the hokage reached for them. They were sealed and unremarkable, though by holding them to the light, the leader of Konohagure's shinobi saw a few bills and lists. Once again, Naruto's grocery stipend didn't seem very informative, but Kakashi immediately clarified the purpose of the packages the fire shadow was holding.

"They both contain Naruto's scent, something that Pakkun was able to sense on the leaf as well."

The hokage gently placed the articles back down on his desk with bewilderment. "You're sure about this, then."

"Yes, sir." Kakashi once again responded.

Sasuke Uchiha's face lost all trace of emotion but shock yet again.

Sarutobi's wrinkled face curved into a smile before the man let out a hearty laugh or two. His wizened eyes sparkled while he reached into his desk and pulled out a few leaves of paper and began filling them in with a small brush.

"This isn't going to be very easy to explain to the council, you know. They probably won't be convinced with the evidence you presented. As an a former ANBU operative, you probably know this quite well."

Kakashi nodded dully, but Sarutobi's scribbling grew more intense. Iruka, seeing the gap in conversation, made to stand up, but the hokage interrupted his question before the teacher even had a chance to ask it.

"I am not to allow the forming and dispatch of retrieval parties without first gaining the consent of the village council, Iruka." The chuunin's hopes began to melt, "-but there are circumstances in which I can ignore protocol; such is my ability as hokage."

More ink flew through the air, and Kakashi bent over his work with his visible eye intrigued.

"I'd like to send a Hyuuga with you, but the last thing they'll want is to get up in the middle of the night. They've been irritable since the eldest daughter locked herself in a closet." he babbled, his voice becoming lower in volume before he continued, "-but if I the Hyuuga were my family, I probably would do the same. Clever girl, that Hinata."

Hinata. Sakura's brain immediately identified the name and the person it belonged to within her memories. Her shy classmate who was always shooting looks of adoration at Naruto, right? That girl had been the very definition of weird, but not just because of her taste in men. She wasn't a bad person, though. A Hyuuga, huh? Funny that I never noticed.

"Sir?" Sasuke asked, unaware of when he had decided that he should use his somewhat inert vocal chords. "What the hell is going on?"

"Pack up your things," the hokage announced, splattering a little bit of wet pigment on his hands as he shoved a form towards Kakashi, who picked it up with care and presented it to his students and Iruka.

"As of right now, the four of you are on a mission of great importance to this village. You are to retrieve Naruto Uzumaki with speed and as little conflict as you can manage."

"-but what about the council?" Sakura asked, unable to delay her curiosity.

All eyes fell on the hokage, who had now placed a pipe between his lips and grinned. "This old man is stubborn you know. If they have a problem with my decisions, too bad. I'd like to see them replace me," he chuckled dryly before saying something that puzzled both Sakura and Sasuke immensely. "-that boy has served this village by simply existing for years, now. I'd say it's about time we return the favor, eh?"

The black-haired shinobi felt the hokage's comment seep under his skin. While he had made many judgments of Naruto, none of them had the boy in a place of great importance to the village. If anything, he was just another ninja, his strengths and weaknesses fluctuating as he made his way into adolescence. Sasuke and Naruto were equals; why would Sarutobi's words suggest otherwise? Before he had a chance to demand an explanation, however, the hokage instructed everyone but Kakashi to leave the office, an order he fulfilled grudgingly.

"Kakashi," the Sandaime's voice was no longer as light-hearted as it had been for the last set of instructions. "You and I are both aware of the risks this mission may run. This could be a trap. I don't know how, when, or why someone would use Naruto as bait, but you can't ever be sure of good news in this world."

"Understood, sir." Kakashi bowed slightly and made to leave, but was stopped just short of the door.

"Oh, and Kakashi…,"

"Hmm?" the jonin hummed, turning his head slightly.

"If things get to dangerous, come back. I'm sure you and I can both agree that another death wouldn't be something to look forward to."

The Hatake didn't really need to say anything to show he had taken those words to heart. The man was sick of all the godforsaken guilt that such burdens entailed. Out of respect, however, the jonin nodded.

"Yes, sir."

Author's note: Sick of my little typos and grammatical errors? BETA READERS, here is where you come in. I think I'll need a crack team, really, but I would really like to remove all these mistakes from all 38 chapters. Contact me if you're interested. Oh, and about yesterday... I was too tired to update. It happens to the best of us, you know.

If anyone's wondering, Naruto's back in the next exciting episode of Fanfiction Ball Z.