~A/N: Hey guys, I'm back! I had a lovely week/weekend trip home and even thought I wasn't able to get much writing done, I was able to plot out the next bit for this story. I'm crossing my fingers that this next "arc" will be faster for me to write and possibly-I don't want to commit to anything yet-I could go back to updating twice a week once the semester ends in a month or so.

Also, since it's getting to be that time of year, I'm thinking of writing a few holiday-themed KakaSaku one shots and posting them back in Our Love, the stories I did for KakaSaku week earlier this year. I sort of liked one shot writing and think I may give it a go again. So if anyone's got prompt ideas or anything they'd like to see written, let me know in a review or message or something, because I'm thinking about opening up that fic again. It would obviously be secondary to this one, but just as a little on the side type thing... I dunno. It's just a thought.

**SPOILERS IF YOU'RE NOT CAUGHT UP ON THE NARUTO MANGA THROUGH CHAPTER 655**
KAKASHI IS BACK BITCHES! Oh my god that chapter was soooooo amazing. Like, I was freaking out emotionally. Awww baby Kakashi and Minato and UGH SO MANY FEELS. Like, I hate Obito as a character-idk why I just can't stand the guy-but that whole speech was just killer man. And then when Kakashi and Sasuke talked! OAISHFOEIH I know they didn't actually have their heart to heart but just the acknowledgment was enough for me. Team Seven is officially back. Now we just need all four of them together in a panel (or preferably like 50 panels...or chapters) and it will all be perfect.
**OKAY END SPOILERS**

I hope someday, like years from now, the Naruto and KakaSaku fandoms are still going strong, and someone finds this fic, reads it, and laughs at our freak outs because we had to actually wait a week to find out these things when they just read it all in a day...

Thirty-Seven: A Change of Scenery

"Hello everyone!"

The members of Team Seven looked up from their ramen, sure that they recognized the voice, but completely baffled as to why they would be hearing it here.

"Pervy Sage?" Naruto asked, squinting his eyes and looking around him to either side.

"Hey, Naruto!" the sannin said, appearing in the barstool next to Kakashi and waving at his blonde protégé and the rest of his team.

"Master Jiraiya, what a surprise. What are you doing here?" Kakashi asked casually, looking up from his book, which happened to be written by said Master.

"Ah, I'm just checking a few things out in the area, so I thought I'd stop by and see how my favorite team is doing. Ooh! That's the best part!" he said, pointing excitedly to the page the Copy Ninja was on. "Ah, I remember the woman who inspired that scene all too well."

"Oh really?" Kakashi said, sounding vaguely interested.

"Oh yes," Jiraiya said dreamily, eyebrows waggling.

"Oi! Aren't you two supposed to be the elite ninja around here?" Yamato said exasperatedly. "Or at least adults? At least Sakura's back with me now. I'm not the only sane one."

Sakura smiled, patting the wood style user's arm comfortingly. She knew dealing with her boys on a daily basis could really take it out of him.

"Ugh! I don't know why you read his pervy books Kaka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "Pervy Sage always made me read them when we were training, telling me it was a different kind of training, but I never really got it."

"You gave him those books to read?" Yamato exclaimed, eyes widening even further. "He was twelve!"

"Technically, I think he was thirteen," Kakashi mused. "And I certainly wasn't going to be the one to explain all that to him."

"Can we change the subject to something else," Sasuke groaned. "Like why you're here?"

"Ah yes," Jiraiya said, clearly amused with Team Seven's antics. They may have been the most revered team in Konoha—probably in the entire shinobi world—but that didn't mean they couldn't still be fun. "Well, I'm here on a mission from Tsunade, just like you are."

"Really?" Kakashi asked, perking up at that information. "What's going on?"

"That's what I'm here to find out. It's come to our attention that there may be more going on here in the Land of Silver than we initially thought. I'm here to do a little research of my own, so I thought I'd stop by and say hello to my favorite shinobi."

Naruto grinned, always happy to see the man who had taught him his way of living. "So does this mean you'll stay for a bit?"

Jiraiya's grin widened, matching his pupil's. "Well of course! How could I say no when it's you asking me, eh Naruto? Although it never hurts to have a pretty girl like Sakura around, does it?" he added with wink.

Sakura rolled her eyes, used to the elder sannin's teasing. She'd learned not to get offended by it. "Careful, Master Jiraiya. I'm still Tsunade's pupil. You wouldn't want me telling her you were flirting with other women while you were away. Remember last time?"

Jiraiya shuddered, a no doubt horrible memory of the Hokage's anger coming to mind.

Naruto frowned. "Hey! That reminds me! Sakura, you knew about Pervy Sage and Granny Tsunade and you didn't tell us! What happened to our promises? I thought we were best friends, Sakura?"

The pink-haired kunoichi sighed. "I was sworn to secrecy, Naruto. You know how Lady Tsunade gets."

"I still thought you'd at least tell us," he grumbled, but seemed more willing to let the subject drop since he was going to get to spend time with his mentor.

"Alright, well you guys have fun," Kakashi said, standing up and waving goodbye to his team for the time being. "Yamato and I are heading to our briefing with Lord Sasaki. We'll catch up with you guys for dinner later."

"Good luck," Sasuke muttered, catching the pained glance his former sensei was sending them. He knew the Copy Ninja would much rather be spending his time talking with Jiraiya about the next Icha Icha novel that was set to be released later that year.

"Come on," the Copy Ninja said, turning to his brown-haired companion. "Let's get this over with."

You have got to be kidding me.

That was the only thing going through Kakashi's head when he registered the words that had come out of Tanosuke Sasaki's mouth.

Maybe I misheard him.

But the way Yamato's eye twitched beside him told the Copy Ninja that he'd heard perfectly. Lord Sasaki, the biggest target in the entire Land of Silver, had just told them that they were to accompany him and his family while they went to a meeting. On board a cruise ship. Where they would be stuck in a limited space.

"You do realize that it's likely the person who is trying to kill you will be on board, don't you?" Yamato asked, sounding more placating than Kakashi would have if he were the one talking.

"That is what you ninja were hired for, was it not? And Osaki and his guard will be accompanying us as well. Now, are there any objections?"

Kakashi could think of a lot—including the rather obvious fact that a cruise ship was a small, enclosed space that would be perfect for staging an attack—but he knew better than to contradict a noble client on a mission like this, even if it was going to make his life more difficult.

"I don't suppose there's any way we can dissuade you from going on this trip?" Yamato asked.

Sasaki shook his head. "No. All of the leaders I need to meet with regarding my plans will be there, and it would look unfavorable if I were to refuse Lord Hanada's summons."

The brunette shinobi sighed resignedly. "As I thought. Very well, we will inform the others and prepare ourselves to be your protection."

Sasaki nodded. "I will leave the organization to you and Osaki. We leave in one week. Oh, and another thing. I think it would be best if the rest of the nobles didn't know you were ninja. We're only supposed to bring our personal guard, you see."

Kakashi sighed. And here he'd just been starting to enjoy the peace and quiet in the city.

"We're what?" Sakura asked incredulously, almost spilling her soup. "Is he out of his mind?"

"Someone really ought to give that idiot a lesson in saving his own skin," Sasuke grumbled next to her, running his hand through dark hair in frustration.

Even Jiraiya looked shocked at Yamato's description of their next mission. He turned to the silver-haired Copy Ninja, who had crammed into the booth next to him.

"Are you going to go through with this?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I don't really have a choice. We're ninjas, and he hired us to do a job."

"It is within the bounds of our assignment to decline a mission that we believe is too risky," Sasuke said.

"I know," Kakashi sighed, running a hand through his hair, "but I think he would go anyway, with or without us, and the Sasakis would be much safer with us."

"It's a bad situation, but we'll make the best of it, like we always do," Yamato smiled.

"I've never been on a cruise before!" Naruto said excitedly, clearly missing the fact that they weren't going on vacation. "It's going to be so awesome!"

"I think you are missing the point here, Naruto," Sai said.

Naruto glared. "I know it's a mission, Sai, I'm just excited to go, okay?"

"What do you think?" Kakashi asked, turning back to Jiraiya. He was confident in the basic strategy that he and Yamato had come up with, but it never hurt to have a second opinion, and Jiraiya's was one that the silver-haired jonin valued immensely.

"Hm, I think you're right to be more worried about an attack on the family members than on Tanosuke Sasaki himself," Jiraiya said, slipping into a more serious mode. "It would still be smart to have one of you with him at all times, though. Even if he does have his personal guardsman with him. You say this guy's skills are trustworthy?"

"I've never seen him fight, but Tenzo can vouch for him."

The brunette nodded. "I sparred against him, and he could easily hold his own against me without my wood-style. He knows a few basic jutsus, even though he isn't a ninja."

"Then I think you're right to spread out so that one of you is always within range of the rest of the Sasakis. If there were to be an attack on the cruise, with so many nobles and their guards around, it would make more sense for the attackers to focus on a kidnapping, or something of the sort."

"Good," Kakashi said, pleased with their plan now that Jiraiya had confirmed it. "I will inform Lord Sasaki of our intentions tomorrow."

"And I was just starting to get used to this place," Sasuke grumbled, taking another bite out of whatever meat had been served to him. He didn't really know what it was—some sort of Land of Silver delicacy, apparently—but it was something different from the usual ramen that came with going to dinner every night with Naruto.

"Ah, cheer up Sasuke! It'll be fun! Don't you think, Sakura?"

"Well, I guess I wouldn't mind acting like a normal girl for awhile, even if it is for a mission," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"So it seems even ugly girls enjoy getting dressed up then," Sai said, and if Sasuke didn't know any better, he would have thought the former Foundation member was intentionally antagonizing her.

"What was that, Sai?" Sakura asked, turning to him with a scary smile plastered onto her face and gripping his arm tight enough to make the already pale shinobi's face a few shades lighter.

"All right Sakura, I think the poor kid's had enough," Kakashi said placatingly, holding up both hands in a friendly gesture. Sakura didn't look convinced, but she released Sai's arm after giving him one last squeeze.

"When do we leave?" Sasuke asked.

"One week," Kakashi answered. "That should give us plenty of time to prepare and find the things we need."

Sakura's face lit up. "Alright! I haven't been shopping in ages! Sai, since you hurt my feelings so much earlier, you can go with me and carry my bags to make it up to me."

Naruto laughed hesitantly. "I'm pretty sure you hurt him worse than he hurt you, Sakura."

"What was that Naruto? Did you say something? I guess you want to help him out, huh?"

The rest of Team Seven shivered, and Jiraiya let out a snort, thinking about how much the pink-haired girl reminded him of Tsunade when she was younger. That girl had bossed him and Orochimaru around in exactly the same way.

"You get more and more like Tsunade every day, kid."

Sakura grinned, beaming up at him from what she took as a compliment. The rest of Team Seven, however, wasn't so sure.

Kakashi sighed, looking at himself hesitantly in the mirror before turning back to Yamato.

"I don't know. Are you sure this looks normal?"

"For the last time, yes! You look completely normal. What's with your aversion to civilian clothes anyway?"

"They look…strange," the Copy Ninja said, looking at his reflection in the full-length mirror.

"Just be glad you got to go shopping with us and not Sakura," Sasuke said, smirking from the shop's doorway. "She probably would've made you buy something that had color on it."

"Ah, I suppose you're right. I wonder how Sai and Naruto are doing."

"Sakura, don't you have enough clothes yet?" Naruto whined, struggling to hold the pink-haired kunoichi's bags and keep up with her at the same time. "We've been out here for hours."

"Do I hear you complaining, Naruto?" Sakura chirped, amused at the boy's suffering.

She had actually finished buying all the clothes she needed for the mission a few hours ago, but she figured she'd take care of her souvenir shopping for Ino and the rest of her friends while she had some downtime. Plus Naruto and Sai had been especially relentless in their teasing this week, so she was having fun with her revenge.

"Sakura."

"Fine, fine. How about you Sai? Are you ready to call it a day."

The exhausted former Root agent could only nod.

Sakura laughed. "Boys."

Sakura put on the finishing touches of her light makeup and slipped into the dress she was going to be wearing for travel. She smiled, wondering when the last time she'd worn a dress was. Or makeup.

Ino would have been proud of her selection. Light green shadow caressed her eyelids, giving her emerald eyes a soft glow, and a bit of liner and mascara added the 'pop' that her blonde best friend was always lecturing her on. Sakura's dress was a light green as well, form-fitting through her chest and waist before billowing out to stop just above her knees.

She was glad they got to play upper-class cruise-goers on this mission. Her boys, she knew, were not.

"This itches," Naruto complained, tugging at the bowtie around his neck. "Sai you put it on wrong!"

"I just did what Kakashi-sensei told me to do."

"Well it's uncomfortable! And so is this shirt! How come we have to wear these stupid Western-style clothes anyway?"

"Because that's the attire," Sasuke grumbled, not bothering to tie the tie around his neck, preferring instead to let it hang loose. He did don the black jacket that had been casually thrown over his shoulder before.

"But why?" Naruto moaned.

"Because it is!"

"There's no need to snap!"

"Cut it out you two, you're giving me a headache," Yamato muttered, walking into the room and rubbing his eyes with his palm. His vest had been hastily buttoned up and his tie was slightly askew.

They looked like a bunch of riffraffs, but Sakura wouldn't have traded them for the world.

"At least someone seems to be enjoying this," Kakashi said, silently coming up to stand beside her.

She turned, surprised to see the silver-haired jonin wearing something that wasn't his Konoha or ANBU uniform. Instead, he wore black slacks, a gray button-down with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, a black vest, and a strip of black cloth over his Sharingan eye. His mask, unfortunately, was still in place.

"How are you going to explain the mask?" Sakura asked, not trusting herself to comment on any other part of his appearance.

She honestly hadn't recognized him at first, and the first thing she'd thought before realizing who he was was that he was attractive.

Kakashi shrugged. "My cover is that I'm a samurai, remember? No one will question me."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Sakura said with a grin.

Kakashi returned her smile and held out his arm. "Shall we?"

Sakura's smile widened, and she placed her own arm in the crook of his.

"Of course."