Scroll 24: Team Usagi
Returning to Konohagakure after their month-long mission was a novice team of three ninjas and their cell leader: Okamizu-sensei. Drake Inikaze, Yusuki Kabamaru and Usagi Uzaruki plodded along aside each other as their leader, Okamizu, led them back to home base. Their sensei; black of hair and boring, plain of face wasn't much to look at. Not much at all until you saw his eyes; vivid blue in color, were almost striking enough to signify an ocular kekkai genkai. But it wasn't the case with Okamizu; his normal eye color; faded green, was hidden behind colored contacts – at least, his normal eyes were. The trait that signified his bloodline limit was hidden snuggly underneath his forehead band: his third, purple eye. Being imbedded at the top of the nose's bridge, the eye was smaller than a normal, human eye, and shaped more like a cat's-eye slit on its side.
Okamizu's kekkai genkai – the name being classified or unimportant enough to chronically forget its name – allowed him to view things as if looking through a scope: zooming in on items, people or places over great distances. (The longest recorded distance could easily be remembered as a whopping 60 miles, of which his brother, Otou held the title.) The only down side to this kekkai genkai, making it much less valuable than the illustrious Byakugan, was that the eye had to had a clear line of view in order to work. The view couldn't be blocked by trees or houses if the eye was to work.
"Sensei-Wolf, this is the third frigging mission that Usagi-san has gotten more pay than us!" Drake Inikaze whined as the he hoisted the pack onto his shoulder as it slipped for the umpteenth time.
Drake was born into a clan that had only been in Konoha for two generations. He was as general as they came; only because Drake was the only one in his clan that didn't have the mirror-eyes kekkai genkai.
The Mind Fortress – Kokoro Toride as his mother had called it – was a bloodline that originated from a small mountain village far to the west, in the Wind country. Drake's clan-members all possessed the same grey eyes. How the ocular talent worked was when the condition was right, the grey iris expanded, enveloping the pupil and the grey color changes to a highly reflective, mirror like-shine. The bloodline was a passive doujutsu, thus, Drake's family was unable control it at will, but it was a great automatic defense mechanism. Those eyes protected their user from almost all types of Genjutsu; with the exception of extremely powerful genjutsu – but it would take a village-sized amount of chakra to cast such a genjutsu that could push past the Mind Fortress.
But that was his family and not him. The 16-year old, green-eyes and brown-hair ranked in as a slightly above average taijutsu and ninjutsu user – which was why he got honors to carry his team-mate's baggage.
"Would you just shut the piss up, Drake, it's not like YOU offered to contact the target and take it in the butt." Yusuki hissed back. Drake's other male teammate was an asshole, and it showed. "Besides, Usagi-chan is hot enough to tag the target even if it wasn't required for the mission, if she hadn't the need to genjutsu her eyes."
Yusuki Kabamaru was as radical in looks as Drake was plain. His natural black hair was dyed in purples, whites and blues. The tips of his bangs – bangs that stopped mid-way through his yellow-blue mixed eyes – were tipped in white as random strands of purple and blue popped out all over his head; making his spiky hair look riotous. The 16-year old boy stood an exact five-foot, but he was still growing. Drake gave Yusuki the finger as his own faded green eyes tore away from the netting and black scarf-wearing ninja.
"Fuck you, man. You know I'm straight as sunbeams." Drake snarled at his thrice face-pierced comrade. "Besides, I didn't hear you offer either, princess."
"Would you two shut the fuck up!" The previously mentioned red-eyed female shoved both Drake and Yusuki – and since she was in the middle; Drake was shoved left as she used her left arm, and Yusuki was shoved right, tasting the strength of her right limb. "I'm the kunoichi here, and kunoichis have a whole different set of skills required of them than shinobi. Besides, the dude was hawt, I didn't mind getting banged before I killed 'em. It's a shame, though, to waste such a large di-"
"USAGI-SAN!" Okamizu shouted to interrupt her. "You're not to talk like that around your teammates."
"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!" Usagi screeched at her sensei.
The girl, standing an inch short of Yusuki's five feet, ran up to match her sensei's steps. Her reversed spiky hair bristled against the nape of her neck, tickling the pale skin. The two ponytails, being tied back at under her ears, bounced as she took those forced, catch-up steps. The ninja suit she wore; black and red in color, revealed her budding cleavage – one that was still covered with netting. She had a black one-piece suit; one that went into a split-style flaps. The grey-rimmed black front and back flaps covered her neither regions and went down to just below her knees. Her legs were covered in netting; like her arms, which rested forearm cloth bracers. Resting on her upper right thigh was her kunai and senbon pack; cushioned by white nylon wrap.
The most remarkable feature of her, however, was her blood-red eyes; the kind of red seen on exquisite roses that some ninjas used as tools. Only her right eye was this vivid ruby red, as her left – due to impure breeding and genetic quirks – was more of a faded cerise. Both eyes however, were capable of using the doujutsu of her clan: the Akashingan.
"No, I am NOT 'bleeping' kidding you, Usagi-san." Okamizu scowled at the 16-year old in front of him. "If you are to become a courtesan, then you have to learn how to speak like one."
"Don't you mean 'slut', Wolf-sensei?" Drake interjected with a snort.
"You're the bitch, Drake. I've got you whipped." Usagi glared back at her comrade. Her comment sent Yusuki into a body-wracking fit of laughter.
"Fuck you, Yusuki-baka."
"Man, Drake, did you hear Usagi-chan! She's got you whipped!" the black-haired genin clapped a hand on his friend's blue-shirt covered shoulder. "Usagi-chan, that's our whore!"
"I beg to differ, Yusuki, I'm nobody's whore." Usagi snapped back.
By this time, the four-cell team was well within the village. The nearby civilians were looking at his team in distain. Their squabbling was being overheard. The tri-eyed sensei lifted a gloved hand to his face and proceeded to give himself a face-palm.
"You three are hopeless, you know that, right?" Okamizu exhaled in annoyance. "Just WHY Sarutobi-Hokage stuck me with you three, is beyond me." His speech went unheard as his genins continued to bicker.
"Nobody's whore, but Itachi's and Neji's you mean." Drake needled Usagi again.
"Drake, fuck you, next time I'll tell the mission-giver to let YOU be the contact." Usagi snarled and turned up her nose at the green-eyed teen. "Besides, that Uchiha dick ditched the dating scene years ago, so it's not my fault. Raikanami scared him insane. Neji…Neji's just a prick. Somebody needs to yank the stick out of his ass."
"How do you know the Hyuuga has a stick up his ass?" Drake spoke up again. "Have you seen it?"
"Man, Drake, shut the piss up already." Yusuki hissed as he draped an arm over his friend. "We all know that that brat orange kid kicked Neji's ass at the chuunin exams earlier this year."
"Whatever kids, I'm going to report the mission as a success to the office. I'll meet you later at our team 3 training grounds." Okamizu finally had enough of his team's bickering. "Don't be late!"
"Ok, Ja Ne!" Yusuki waved half-heartedly at his sensei as she glared at Drake. "Race you two there, losers!"
"I'll always win!" Usagi crowed as she vanished, and Yusuki followed soon after.
"Damn it, I hate it when they do that. I'll see you later, sensei." Drake, the civilized one of the team, bowed to his tri-eyed sensei before following his two, quicker teammates.
"Hehehe, thank you Drake, I knew I can always count on you to be the polite one." Okamizu muttered to himself as he watched the three teens take off on the rooftops.
XXX
Usagi, like she had announced, made it to the training grounds first, and gave Yusuki a head-rub burn for being second.
"DAMN, Usagi-san! That's soo hawt!" Yusuki laughed within Usagi's headlock as Drake entered the scene. "Dude, wanna join us for a threesome!" the blue and purple spikes on his head quivered with mirth as Drake flicked his friend off and blanched.
Usagi, however, shoved Yusuki onto the ground as she, adding insult to injury, shoved his butt with her black-sandaled foot.
"Pervert Yusuki!" she scowled as her attention was torn away from the pervert Yusuki to what had rolled out of the bushes: a black and white puppy that was currently wrestling with the same-sized teddy bear.
Gilligan was having the time of her life, and was currently pretending to let the puppy win by trying to crawl away. She'd started crawling in the general direction of Usagi and the rest when she looked up, noticed what they were doing, and promptly transformed back into her normal shape and size of a very convincing boy. Wydra wheeled down a tree a few seconds later, calling out as she did so.
"Sheena! Reena and Gilligan are over here!" She wheeled up to Gilligan. "Gilligan, you heard Joma! We're supposed to stay near the camp! Why did you let the puppy chase you off like that!" About this point she looked up to see Usagi and the rest as well, "Oh…sorry if my friend disturbed your training." she smiled, and reached down towards Gilligan and the puppy, Reena, to pick them both up by the scruff of their neck. Sheena could be heard coming up, though wasn't in sight just yet.
The three teen-genins analyzed the situation in seconds and closed their foul mouth streams off. However, Yusuki began to giggle as he lifted himself off the ground.
"YUSUKI! Don't you DARE!" Both Drake and Usagi shouted at their third in a synchronized voice.
The black-haired genin was on his hands and knees, ready to stand up and give his nasty greeting to the younger girls – which was to stand and cast a genjutsu that would fill the air with floating rose petals. Then, those rose petals would become drops of blood, before turning into little phalluses. The genjutsu was something that he and Drake came up with on the night they came together as a genin team; and had done so drunk.
The first time Yusuki had used it on Usagi, early the next morning, she had stuck a kunai in his gut, sending him to the med center and causing their first mission – a class C animal seek and retrieval of a local's pair of pet tigers – to be exchanged for a month's worth of cleaning the village for punishing their behavior.
(Usagi had put Yusuki on the med-center yet again when she had found out that the tiger-seeking mission, her first ever mission, had been given to her cousin, Yukari. Usagi's anger was bad enough that she had broken Yusuki's left arm and leg when Drake had mentioned it while they sparred.)
Since having been put into the medical ward wasn't enough of a deterrent, Yusuki had made it his calling card – doing it to every female that spoke to him. It was, at least for his comrades, the funniest thing to witness when Yusuki had done it to the Hokage when they had reported in after their next, month-long mission had ended. Their punishment: to sort, alphabetically, the scrolls that were stored in the basements of not only the Hokage's public library, but the ten other public-access libraries within Konohagakure as well.
Tsunade-sama had threatened Yusuki, under punishment of having his chakra forever severed, never to do it again. Of course, being the boy he was, he only used the prank on female shinobi that were jounin and below.
Usagi groaned in mortal embarrassment as Yusuki instead, rolled onto his back and cast the Genjutsu anyway…on all of them.
Rose petals began to flutter down from the blue sky; smelling to the world like rose petals. Seconds later, when the petals touched skin, it turned into blood before morphing into tiny, penny-sized penises.
"YUSUKI!" Usagi screamed at him. Drake just sat back and placed a hand over his non Genjutsu-breaking eyes, waiting for the screaming and raining blood to cease.
Wydra - immediately suspicious when rose petals came suddenly floating down out of the sky at this time of the year - was already a little offset by the Genin's behavior. Gilligan blinked, not too suspicious, until it turned into blood. She wouldn't have thought much of this, even after the third effect set in. She was educated about the third item from her messed up family, but knew this was intended as something quite malicious from other ninja. Sheena hadn't caught up with the other two just yet so wasn't caught in the Genjutsu, but did arrive from the side to see what Yusuki was doing and the poses her team-mates were holding. Wydra had her eyes shut tight and was concentrating. Gilligan just had her face scrunched up like she was getting really pissed off.
There was a very loud series of chain-clinking noises, all within the span of a second. What Sheena had done was expel most of her chains, all except for a couple of the links that were attached to her body itself, into the ground; forcing them to travel just below the surface - waiting for the time to strike. She did the necessary hand signs, and backed up for the running room required for the jutsu. She launched herself into the air, aiming straight at the genin but mostly at Yusuki. Her entire body spun, her multi-spiked cap acting like a drill – the cap itself grew larger and larger. As soon as she came into sight, she expended a bit of chakra to boost her speed. If Yusuki didn't dodge, he might not be dead but he would get pretty fucked up.
Gilligan had already started doing a long series of hand-signs for a rather complicated Jutsu. They'd been attacked before so they were going by instinct, which would explain that, although Wydra was staying still, she was building up chakra. Before she had, though, Wydra had gently tossed the puppy into the nearby bushes. Depending on the genins' reaction to Sheena would decide their next actions.
Usagi, Yusuki and Drake all sensed the tension and immediately responded in such; Drake as the analytical mind, Usagi as the speed and Yusuki as the power. However, Yusuki was shoved forward to receive his punishment. Usagi frowned as she lowered herself – that shoving foot would come down and her body would follow. The black-haired girl rushed at Gilligan as Drake moved for Wydra. Usagi covered her body swiftly around her target as Drake swept Gilligan off her feet to take cover.
Yusuki, however, was unfortunate enough to take his hit in his black-armored stomach – the ground beneath him buckling into a crater six feet in diameter. Although his stomach was torn open, the pain that would have normally knocked a ninja out was converted into chakra and stored.
"AAAH DAMN IT! There goes the neighborhood!" The black, blue and purple haired genin coughed up blood.
As Yusuki got hit, and after his last words, chains would erupt out of the ground. First, coming out from under his feet; shoving to knock him off the ground; then wrapping around his arms and legs, pinning him down. If done properly, Sheena would let out a low whistle to her team to let them know the target had been neutralized, and the other two would simply use replacement jutsu, their real bodies ending up next to Yusuki.
If it didn't work, the chains would wrap around him as best they could and Wydra would have a replacement jutsu used on her, to be replaced by a copy of Gilligan. Both versions, copy and real, would start bleeding from multiple orifices and appear to be shrinking, and began reaching towards Usagi and Drake as though for Help. Wydra would be nowhere to be seen.
Drake and Usagi, both having their cover targets vanish, spun around on heels to face their previous location. What they saw freaked them out. Both the children that Yusuki had used his Genjutsu on were standing next to him as the chains wrapped him up tighter than one of Yukari's hair-wire traps.
"Yusuki, you idiot! See what you've! These kids obviously aren't our kids from the Academ. We've run into rogue ninja!" Usagi berated her comrade as she scooted closer to Drake. Different things scare different people, and ninja were trained to ignore common fears – fears that civilians had such as fear of heights, gore and death – but seeing the chains launch up from the ground spooked Usagi.
"WHO ARE YOU KIDS!"
Wydra laid a hand on Sheena's shoulder, and the chains stopped tightening around Yusuki. She then turned towards Gilligan and gave him a stern look, and he stopped doing hand signs, looking down at the ground dejectedly as built up chakra dispersed out of her slowly. Wydra then turned:
"We're just visitors, our camp is back that way, and as far as we knew we were going to leave in a few days. We were just playing with our puppy when you provoked us. I probably would have just let it go but this little girl," she pointed to Sheena. Now that her chains were off, her tortured body could be mostly seen. "Has an issue when anything is done to her friends. This boy…" she pointed to Gilligan. "…is mentally unbalanced. So this girl…" she jabbed a thumb into her own chest. "Is the one you should thank for your team-mate's life right now, or he'd be dead." With that, Sheena would just pick up Yusuki's body with the chains and threw him at Usagi.
Usagi would leap out from behind Drake to use her lithe body to catch the wounded Yusuki. "You're such a dumbass Yusu-kun." She would mutter, only half-hearing the kids.
"We don't usually reveal how strong we are, we still haven't, because we like being treated like kids, and we don't like people asking about our horrible pasts. It would be nice if you kept this incident to yourselves." With that said, Wydra whistled for Reena to come back out, and Sheena re-wrapped the chains around her body. They turned to go, and Wydra said over her shoulder. "If you want to talk on more peaceful terms, and get your friend stitched up without your village knowing, follow us back. If not, you should probably get cleaned up."
"We understand that you kids want to keep your secrets." Drake spoke up, taking his normal position of spokes-person. "Please forgive Kabamaru-san his abusive greeting. I and my teammate, Usagi Uzaruki will see to it that he is properly punished."
Drake was always the one to use formal speech when trying to get the other 2/3 of his team out of trouble they instigate. It was one of his personality flaws – at least, to both Usagi and Yusuki. The Inikaze in him was as such to be verbally, formally polite.
"Shut the fuck up, Inikaze, and get your ass over here to heal me!" Yusuki choked out the biting words through blood. "So I made a mistake, I thought the kids were girls, so I used my special genjutsu to make them squeal in…"
The Kabamaru member never finished his statement as Usagi pulled out a thin, senbon needle and jabbed it into his neck; effectively shutting him up.
"Yusuki-ecchi!" Usagi hissed and lifted her eyes to look at the retreating kids. "Hurry up, Drake-kun, Yusu-kun's stomach is gross-looking!"
XXX
Meanwhile, Yukari and Kakashi, along with Shizune, had made their way to the medical center to find Tsunade.
"I wonder what our mission is going to be, Kakashi-sensei." Yukari would ask off-handedly as she looked out the window to notice a crow flying by – a crow that just so happened to wear little bunny ears.
Slapping a hand to her face in surprise, she motioned to Kakashi at the object of her disgust. The bunny-eared crow meant only one thing: her cousin had returned to Konoha and that placed Yukari under restricted movement. Restricting Yukari would inhibit the Uzaruki heiress to accidently cross her cousin's path – a cousin that had vowed to kill Yukari had she the chance. Usagi Uzaruki had one serious blood-grudge against the main-branch's eldest daughter. It was a girl thing, so it was hard to explain to other civilians.
"Well, it's better to be alert now, Yukari-chan. Maybe this mission will help put some distance between you and her." Kakashi had acknowledged the crow and its meaning. He had learned the nuances of how the Uzaruki clan often used common-day birds to send inter-village messages (messages within the village) to each other. It still was odd to see a bird dressed in such apparel – the ears obviously representing Yukari's cousin's namesake: rabbit.
"Shizune, just where is the Hokage-sama in this building?" Kakashi had followed the black-haired aid up to the second floor and set the folders he carried next to hers.
"I'm not sure, but I am guessing she is on this floor; if I'm to judge by the information she requested me to get." The brown-eyed girl that was related to the dead lover of Tsunade finally picked up Tonton – as the faithful pig had followed them to the medical unit – and looked around the halls. "I know she's here somewhere."
Yukari had said nothing as knew that Kakashi knew of her in-effect movement restriction. If she were to leave the medical building, she would need an escort to her apartment. She was in a predicament similar to her classmate, Neji. Cousin pitted against cousin. Usagi hated Yukari for the pair of true-red eyes that Yukari was born with, being hated because she was the heiress, when Usagi was the older one. The positive side was that Yukari was warned by Usagi herself: the dual-color-eyed Kushina daughter stating that Yukari would be killed if she ever caught Yukari alone.
So the Hokage had issued a solution: Usagi's sensei would summon from a specially written contract with the Crows. Okamizu had to alert the Main Uzaruki household via a bunny-ear wearing crow that would fly about the village until seen and noted by a main Uzaruki – namely Yukari herself.
Now Yukari was groaning inwardly as the costumed crow sat on the windowsill to turn a black, beady eye on her before vanishing. Naruto would have just pointed at the dumb crow and laughed, making her feel better about the ill-made situation. But for now, Yukari slipped into an emotionally blank mask and waited next to the counter for the Hokage.
Jake, still in the form of a leaf-nin and on his way towards Abisu and Crystania, managed to pass Yukari and the rest. So he stopped for a moment, noticing Shizune along with them.
"Ah, looking for Tsunade-sama? She's right over there." He went ahead and pointed. He turned towards Kakashi a moment later though. "Ah…Hatake-san, there is something I wish to talk to you about, a moment please." he nodded a little to the side, indicating he wished it to be a private conversation.
Kakashi nodded to the under-cover Jake; noting that Yukari was distracted at the moment, the silver-haired ninja slipped into an empty room with Med-nin Jake. Shizune bowed a polite thanks to the med-nin – not knowing the med-nin was being mind-controlled in a way – and hurried down the hall to find her mentor.
"So, are you the same Jake-san from before, hm?" Kakashi's aloof manner, the same personality traits that turned Yukari on like a raging inferno, shined through as the Sharingan user smiled lazily at the med-nin.
"Mostly. This body is just one of the nins I have in the village that specializes in peaceful infiltration and retrieval. Me? I'm comfortably in here." he tapped his, or the persons, head. "Gotta kill him to get me out, but I prefer you not to. I mostly wanted to give you this…" Jake-Med pulled out a small scroll. "This is a list of ingredients. The end point is a small concoction that could be used to make my sister a bit more manageable when she finally…" he paused, not sure of the right word to use. "…snaps in a few days. You're the second fastest person I know, so I thought it would be best to give this to you as you will most likely be near when it happens."
"Ah yes, the situation you wanted to relay to Yukari-chan through me. I will certainly keep this scroll handy." Kakashi hadn't a clue as to what Jake was talking about. But, being an ex-ANBU and jounin, Kakashi would most likely use his skills of observation and discreet questioning to find out just what this scroll of ingredients was to cure against. Also, asking Yukari would have helped too.
"Wouldn't it be wiser to give this to Yukari-chan?" The silver-haired jounin quizzed Jake.
"Ah, I apologize for the misunderstanding. This scroll is for you, as there are a few ingredients there that I don't have access too here. As piercing as my eyes are, they can't see into dark storage areas of your village. Also, unless you can give me the location of another ninja here faster than you that I can trust more, you are the best recipient. So there are no illusions, and I have no secrets to hide here, the scroll will knockout my sister if she gets too…unruly. Of course, as it can be used to control her, I hold the last and most important part needed to work the scroll. This is only if, for some reason, my elder brother is incapacitated at the time. Above all things, I would try to avoid getting Barokendo to take off his coat." Jake shuddered.
It hadn't happened in a long time, but he would never forget the last time BaRoKenDo got truly angry. He continued: "I would be careful this scroll and its contents don't fall into other hands…even without the full list of ingredients, it is still a very powerful poison." Jake would stand there for a moment, waiting to see if Kakashi had any questions or concerns, before he moved off towards Crystania's room. The under-cover-medical-body-using Darkness ninja-kid wanted to finish his work before he left.
"Hm…I understand. This scroll will help the Wheel nin that we are about to escort." Kakashi nodded and tucked the scroll safely into his nin-jacket and smiled beneath his mask. "I'll be sure that no one else can see this." With that said, the jounin wandered out of the empty room and returned to Yukari's side. He dispelled the genjutsu of him just standing aimlessly and silently slid into the genjutsu; making it real.
"Yo, Yukari."
"Yo, yourself, Kakashi-sensei. What is taking Shizune so long!" she snapped uncharacteristically. It must be the fact that that psycho bitch-cousin of hers was back and now Yukari had to remain within the building.
"Hokage-sama is over here, minna-san!" The red-headed Curitsu popped out of the room in which the two recover-ees were in: Abisu and Crystania. Kakashi and Yukari followed the undercover Jake into the room as the Hokage finished her regular checks on Crystania.
"You two are in shape enough to be dismissed from this ward. But I want you to stay slightly longer so we can set up a recovery program to get you back on your ninja feet." Tsunade then turned to Kakashi and Yukari; then nodded to Otou as he entered the room.
"Well, you're on time I see, Kakashi-san." She smiled.
"Ah, well, I was going to do something else, but Yukari-chan here found me first and this is where I ended up." The silver-haired ninja looked slightly embarrassed and a finger lifted to scratch at his cheek.
"That is such bull, Kakashi, my man, you didn't want to leave Yukari-san alone when you could be with her!" The tri-eyed man, and her other sensei, laughed loudly as he, too, found the Hokage to debrief him on his mission.
"Enough with the chatter!" Tsunade straightened up and withdrew a scroll from her sash. "The mission starts now! Kakashi; you, Yukari-san, Otou-san, Hani-san and Genma-san are to report to the Wheel-Nin camp to act as escorts to our allies. They do not know the areas at all, and I doubt it would be fair enough to just let them wander around when our enemies are still active." The Slug-Master handed the full agreement that she, Skiminachi and Shozaku had hashed out a few nights before. "You are to cater to their needs, and guide them in the etiquette required when negotiating alliances."
Tsunade nodded briefly to Shizune before leading the three-man squad out of the crowed room. Taking them to a more secure place, she continued.
"Also know that Shozaku-san and his clan are to be protected at all costs should either the Akatsuki or any Sound Ninja shows up. I am more than confident that you five will be able to handle any trouble that comes up; as I do not expect the Akatsuki to bother you."
Great, does that mean you expect the Sound Village to get more cracks at us? Yukari's mental question rang in her head. "I don't mean to sound like a genin, Hokage-sama, but I wouldn't be a match for any of the stronger Sound nin nor any of the Akatsuki."
Tsunade's brown eyes turned towards the Uzaruki heiress. "Yukari-chan, I am more than aware of your growing abilities and hereby revoke any restrictions on you and your jutsus. You, if you must, will be able to use the few kinjutsus you have learned and those that you have created."
The faith the Hokage had just shown her astounded Yukari. The red-eyed girl was going to modestly deny the compliment when the blonde-busty-rumped woman continued.
"Furthermore, Kakashi, both you and Otou are to help our young kunoichi if she runs into any trouble." Then, turning to the girl. "Yukari, if you are able to complete this mission, you are hear-by promoted to official chuunin rank."
Those red eyes went wide as Yukari heard the pronouncement. She was going to be a chuunin simply by doing an escort mission. How easy was that! It was a few seconds later before Yukari snapped out of it enough to be aware that the Hokage was still speaking.
"If you have any other questions about this mission, ask them now; otherwise you are dismissed and I expect you to be out of the village before sunset! Dismissed!"
The Hokage finished her speech with a dramatic outwards arm fling – and that action sent her, Kakashi and Otou into action, using their enhanced speed to jump into gear.
