"Iron Country? That's a far away mission for a genin team, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade gave Kakashi an highly unimpressed look. "I seem to remember encountering Team 7 in Lightning a few months ago. Is that not just as far?"

"Those were special circumstances, Hokage-sama." He didn't flinch at her glare, but she noticed his orange book was nowhere in sight.

She sighed. "It's not a particularly difficult mission for genin." She reconsidered. "It's not a particularly difficult mission for your genin. It's still C-Rank, despite the lengthy travel required. A simple robbery investigation."

Kakashi's single evident eyebrow rose in disbelief. "Why can't their local police force deal with it?"

Tsunade shuffled the papers around casually. "The item that was stolen is too dangerous for civilians to handle and you know Iron does not have an active shinobi village to turn to."

Kakashi snorted. "I've been to Iron, Tsunade-sama. Their samurai are more than equipped to handle threats, despite lack of shinobi arts. Their neutrality in our affairs, if you'll forgive the pun, is ironclad. What is this mission really about?"

Tsunade rubbed her forehead, wishing Shizune hadn't stolen her last stash of sake from Rice Country that Sakura had "found" for her. She was really starting to like that girl, despite their ignominious meeting.

"Mifune himself has specifically requested a team from Konoha deal with this issue. He insists it's necessary, which makes me believe that the item stolen is shinobi in origin and that he was unaware of its existence. He's trying to protect their policy of non-interference."

"Then why us? Why not an older, experienced team, just in case?"

"I would never want to send my people into danger uselessly, but I also can't afford to make Iron nervous about multiple high level jonin scouring their countryside either. Your team is a compromise, though less of one than Mifune knows." She smirked at him as he nodded in understanding; Team 7 was only genin level on paper. They have already utilized their somewhat harmless appearances to their advantage in past missions.

He shrugged at her and took the mission scroll. "I hope you're making the right choice, Hokage-sama, sending my cute genin into a neutral country. They might just end up accidentally conquering it."

Kakashi left out the window, an annoying habit she hadn't yet been able to break him of. Tsunade muttered to herself in despair. "That probably wasn't even a joke."

Kakashi found the boys on the training ground, right where they were supposed to be. Or rather, he thought, they're in the training ground. He squatted down between them, where they were stuck in the earth up to their necks looking like macabre bushes. "Should I even ask?"

Sasuke and Naruto were refusing to look at each other and him, with Sasuke's trademark pout threatening to overtake his face. Naruto was looking annoyed and amused at the same time, so Kakashi made some well-placed assumptions. "Sasuke did this accidentally, huh?"

Naruto's head whipped around toward him and his eager grin was full of teeth. "Hah! He was tryin' to do one of those doton jutsus you and Sakura-chan use, but he wanted to test it on me first. Like I was gonna just let him do that!"

"And how did you two end up like this?" Kakashi poked them both in the head.

Naruto's blue eyes were wide and seemingly innocent. "I may have interrupted his hand seals with a floating exploding tag. May have."

Their teacher just sighed and started digging them out, using his own doton to force the earth to release them. Sasuke was still pouting, though more of his attention was spent on watching Kakashi form the seals with red eyes. He shook his head at the boy. "You might want to perfect the one you just used before you go stealing more from me."

Sasuke stared at him incredulously, pout forgotten. "Really? A lecture on stealing jutsu from the Copy Nin?"

Kakashi stared up at the sky in a mute plea for patience and guidance. Minato-sensei, I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you. "You've been spending too much time with Sakura-chan, Sasuke. She's been a bad influence."

Sasuke just snorted and brushed dirt off his clothes. Naruto did the same, though he was not nearly as successful. "So what's goin' on, Kakashi-sensei? I didn't expect to see you for hours and hours today!"

"Tsunade-sama has given us a mission. We're to leave as soon as we're done packing." He looked around. "Where's Sakura-chan, anyway?"

Naruto grinned and Sasuke's face affected a blank look that meant he was trying very hard not to look annoyed. "It's Thursday!"

He nodded. "Ah, shogi. Shall we go fetch her, boys?"

They arrived at Nara Compound within no time and were about to knock on the door when they heard a low yell from around the back of the house. Naruto and Sasuke took off toward the sound without a second thought and Kakashi just followed them leisurely. He had a pretty good idea of what they would find.

Indeed, when he rounded the side of the house he saw Shikamaru sprawled face down in the dirt and Sakura sitting on the porch steps with a grin on her face. Kakashi could see Shikaku trying to hide his own grin behind his bowl of sake, eying his son with amusement.

Naruto and Sasuke had skidded to a stop, taking in the scene. "Sakura-chan! Are you okay?"

She raised a single eyebrow at them. "Do you really think I'm in danger from Shikamaru, boys?"

There was a muffled sound from the ground. She ignored it. "Well?"

Naruto puffed up his chest. "Of course not, Sakura-chan! But we're allowed to be worried anyways. You always say that about us!" Sasuke agreed with a grunt and folded his arms grumpily.

Sakura sighed. "Fine, fine. But as you can see, Shikamaru is the one who deserves all your concern." She called out to the prone form on the ground. "Isn't that right? You boys have to stick together, yes?"

Kakashi winced. Sakura did not tolerate her abilities being maligned in general, but if the boy had implied she was somehow lesser because she was a girl … Well. Kakashi thought he was fortunate that he was still conscious. Naruto hefted Shikamaru up to his feet and he rubbed at his reddened cheek with a frown. "I didn't mean it in a bad way, Sakura."

She didn't look convinced. "Think of this experience as a reminder to consider your words carefully. Free career advice."

The children continued with their pointed squabble while Kakashi joined Shikaku on the porch and looked at him curiously. "You just let Sakura beat on your son right in front of you?"

The man took a sip of his sake and smirked at him. "She does it often enough that it's not a surprise anymore. And never without good reason." He sighed wistfully. "She reminds me of my Yoshino-chan when we were younger." Kakashi felt his insides freeze. His cute little genin team were still only children, he didn't want to think about what they would be as hormonal teenagers. He eyed the group of them with trepidation, inwardly cursing Shikaku for forcing him to imagine his future hell.

In a weak voice, he said, "A little soon for that, isn't it?"

Shikaku was still amused, damn the man. "Shikamaru has been nursing a crush on your girl for two years now with no signs of it abating. She might be interested one day."

He suddenly felt the need to leave immediately, away from this scheming man and his son who wanted to steal away one of his team. Thankfully, he had a very good excuse. "Sakura-chan! We have a mission. Let's head out."

She stopped in the middle of her conversation-argument with Shikamaru and gave him a sharp salute. "Aye-aye, sir." She patted the boy's bruised cheek with a glowing green hand and the mark soon faded to nothing. "Next time, I won't be so gentle."

Kakashi quickly ushered her and the boys out of the backyard, Shikaku's laughter following him like a phantom.

"Iron Country? That's pretty far away, Kakashi-sensei." He caught Sakura's brief frown as they picked their way through the trees.

Naruto also looked confused. "Aren't they neutral? Why are we going there?"

Sasuke grunted from Sakura's other side. "The better question is why are we going there?"

Kakashi sighed. It was actually very exhausting for him to deal with such smart children. None of his usual tricks worked on them, which made him work so much harder. He had sacrificed so much of his Icha Icha time to keep them out of mischief.

"Konoha was requested by the leader of Iron Country himself. We are going to be investigating a robbery." They traveled in silence for a short time, his team digesting the information and he braced himself for the litany of questions he knew would follow. It was nearly time to find a place to make camp for the night and he hoped they would wait until they had settled.

Amazingly, his prayers were answered, as he signaled for them to stop in a good area. They immediately fell into their usual tasks, with Sasuke gathering wood and creating a campfire, Naruto setting the perimeter traps and Sakura setting up their tent.

In the beginning of their official tenure as a team, he had brought three separate tents for himself, Sakura and the boys, respectively. She had taken one look at them and scoffed at him. "Why separate our forces? It's easier to plant a defense seal on just one tent, Kakashi-sensei."

His meager excuses of propriety had not impressed or swayed her and he had marveled again how unlike she was from the only other younger girl he had really known. When he was younger, he had never questioned the fact that Rin and Minato had their own tents on their missions, sure in his knowledge that he could protect himself and that his sensei could protect everyone. And that had turned out so well, hadn't it?

It wasn't until they were all sitting around the fire chewing on their rations that his students decided that it was high time he inform them of what he knew. Naruto looked ready to explode from curiosity. "Kakashi-sensei! You haven't told us anything about our mission! What gives?"

"We're going to Iron Country to investigate a robbery." He repeated his earlier words, mostly to annoy them. It worked on Naruto and Sasuke, who had identical mulish pouts on their faces. Sakura just laughed at him.

"What was stolen?"

He scratched at his cheek over the mask. "The mission parameters don't actually state that. We're to meet with the leader of Iron Country to get specifics. He gave us very little information."

Sakura stared at him in disbelief. "Tsunade-sama sent us out to a relatively unknown region without so much as asking Mifune-sama for, I don't know, an actual mission request?"

Kakashi was startled by her use of the name. "How do you know-?"

Sasuke huffed. "One day you'll stop being surprised by what she knows, Kakashi-sensei." He gave her a surprisingly fond glance. "Sakura's right, though. This sounds like a trap. Why do they even want us there in first place?"

"Tsunade-sama believes that the item is of shinobi origin. Mifune-sama would not want to involve his samurai any more than they already are."

Naruto had quickly consumed his rations and looked longingly at the food Kakashi hadn't finished. He handed it to his student without a word and Naruto smiled at him gratefully. Eating for two? Now that gives me terrible images.

Sakura looked thoughtful. "So we're her way of fulfilling the mission, but not in a politically threatening way. We're harmless." She smirked happily and after a moment, the boys had caught on, grinning. "Or at least, that's what they're going to think." She stretched her arms over her head and then stared at Kakashi critically. "How are we going to explain you?"

"Respectfully? Because you are my obedient little genin team?"

"You kind of ruin our whole 'shinobi wouldn't hurt a fly' routine. You're infamous, Kakashi-sensei."

He whined, unbecoming of a man of his age and status. "Don't you mean famous, Sakura-chan?"

She poked at the fire with a stick and looked at him blankly. "No. But maybe they will not have heard of you, since they're so removed from shinobi affairs." Sasuke snorted in derision next to her. "Yeah, I know. Long shot. We'll just have to make do with what we're given."

"Now that you're done undermining me and my whole career, we should sleep. We'll hit the border of Iron Country tomorrow and take a train to the capital, where we'll meet Mifune-sama. Watch shifts in the usual order. Shoo." He waved them off toward the tent, where Sakura watched the boys step in first and then activated the protective seal on the front flap.

The night passed quickly, with no major incidences. Kakashi didn't think that there would be any, but he hadn't been truly relaxed since they left Konoha. In the morning they broke camp and made for a small border town to catch their train.

Once aboard, he ordered the team to change. "It will be much colder there than Fire. I'm sure Sakura-chan packed half of her house into her sealing scroll, so she should have your warmer clothing."

Sakura grinned at him unrepentantly. "You know me so well, Kakashi-sensei." She shoved a bundle of cloth first at Naruto and then Sasuke and busied herself with her own clothing. To all of their surprise, she took the senbon out of her hair and shook it out of her usual tight bun, the pink waves reaching half-way down her back. "What? I need to look as useless as possible." Sakura looked up at Kakashi with an alarmingly accurate guileless look, her green eyes big and sad. "Does it work? Will I pass?"

He made a face behind his mask. "I'm sure it will work on anyone who doesn't know you, Sakura-chan. Otherwise, it's just disturbing." The boys smirked as they wrapped their cloaks around themselves and then yelped as she thumped them both over the head.

Kakashi presented their traffic passes and mission statement to the samurai guarding the capital building, his team standing behind him like the tractable students he knew they were not. At least their acting has gotten better.

The guard squinted at the scroll in the dying light of day and nodded gruffly at the other guards, allowing them to pass. Kakashi slouched forward, intent on projecting his usual lazy air while the children huddled together and followed closely behind him. He came to a stop as a long-haired older man strode up to them confidently. "You must be the Hokage's team. Welcome to Iron Country. I am General Mifune."

Kakashi bowed to him. "Greetings from Konoha, Mifune-sama. We are Team 7, here to assist with your request."

The man stared at them with keen eyes, but no outward expression. "Indeed. Let us adjourn for tea so that I may explain why you are here." They were shown into a side room, where a plain middle-aged woman was already waiting to prepare and serve the tea. Sakura eyed the beautiful black silk of her kimono as she placed the their cups in front of them efficiently and smiled at the woman, while the boys and Kakashi were focused on Mifune in silence. The woman's eyes met the general's and he nodded slightly at her and she withdrew out the same door they had entered.

Mifune sipped at his tea, seemingly at ease with their situation. Kakashi could tell that Naruto was going to get antsy very soon if their discussion did not begin soon.

Sakura demurely held her tea in two bandaged hands, taking a delicate sip. "Your wife makes excellent tea, Mifune-sama." Kakashi was tempted to scream. While he was well able to look underneath the underneath as befits a shinobi, he hated social niceties and political bargaining. He wasn't sure how long it would take to get to the information they needed. Is she guessing about that woman? I didn't know he was married.

Mifune looked at her directly. "Yes. Sachiko is a talented woman. I am fortunate that she chose me."

Sakura smiled at him. "I'm sure she feels the same about you." The man narrowed his eyes at her, his face slightly twitching to a questioning expression before dismissing the thought.

He looked at Kakashi. "You know that we are neutral. Your appearance here is unorthodox."

He nodded. "Konoha is honored by your trust in us."

Mifune looked at him evenly. "Do not take it lightly. The item you are to find is from Fire Country originally. I dislike acknowledging that I was unaware of its existence until it was stolen." Tsunade-sama was right. Maybe this won't be too dangerous after all.

"Who was the owner?"

"Technically, no one. The curator of our capital's historical museum claims to have received it mixed in with a shipment of other Iron Country artifacts last month. He was in the process of establishing provenance when it disappeared."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Disappeared? There were no signs of a break in?"

"None. Before you ask, the curator has been cleared as a suspect."

"We will still need to speak with him. Especially if he is the only one who seems to know more about what this artifact is and what it can do." His team was suspiciously silent. When Mifune picked his tea up again, Kakashi chanced a look at them. Naruto and Sasuke were both doing their own versions of polite interest, staring unwaveringly at Mifune while Sakura's eyes were wandering around the entire perimeter of the room.

"That is acceptable. I will bring you to him."

He felt the need to protest. "Mifune-sama, that is unnecessary. I'm sure we can find our way there. You don't need to trouble yourself."

"Nonsense. I want this matter settled as quickly as possible." Kakashi heard the unspoken implication. You want us gone too. Fair enough. "The artifact was taken five days ago. There are no suspects outside the curator, who had an alibi that many people can substantiate. The room it was previous stored has not been touched." He stood smoothly, belying his age. "I will take you to the museum now."

Mifune led them through a maze of corridors in the capital building, ending up in a shared courtyard. He nodded at everyone as he passed and the citizens gave Kakashi and his team wide-eyed looks, noting their hitai-ates. After many more doors and corridors, they stood in front of a small middle-aged man with glasses, who twisted his hands together nervously. Habit or circumstance?

"Mifune-dono! How can I help you?" He glanced at Team 7 curiously.

Mifune motioned between them. "This is Ito Hajime." Kakashi nodded his head to him and saw his team do the same. Mifune turned back to Ito. "They are from Konoha. You are to assist them with whatever they need to find the artifact that was stolen from the museum."

Ito bowed shakily. "Of course, Mifune-dono." Without further ceremony, Mifune left them to their own devices, his booted feet clicking quietly in the tiled hallway.

Ito watched him leave for a moment and then clapped his hands together cheerfully, clearly more relaxed now that Mifune was gone. "So! Let's get started, shall we? What can I do for you?" He frowned and then said, "But first, what do I call you?"

Kakashi was suspicious of his change in demeanor, but answered readily. "I'm Hatake Kakashi and these are my students, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura."

The man's dark eyes lit up. "The Hatake Kakashi? Here in Iron Country? How exciting!"

Kakashi could see Sakura resist the urge to roll her eyes and wanted to sigh. "I'm not sure what you mean, Ito-san."

Ito leaned forward into Kakashi's personal space and whispered to him loudly. "If I can tell you a secret? I have a big interest in shinobi history in addition to our own samurai archives. It's not quite the thing here in Iron Country, you understand. But your adventurous exploits have reached even here!"

Over the man's head he saw Sakura mouth the words "exploits" at him with a grin. She was going to get punishment training when they got back to Konoha, extra work with Gai notwithstanding. "Ah, that's very kind of you to say, Ito-san. I'm just a man doing his job, after all."

"I'm sure the students of such an esteemed shinobi are just as impressed by your prowess!" Ito had turned to the three children and Sasuke stepped on Naruto's foot, breaking him out of his daydreams.

"Huh? Yeah, we're thrilled." The man beamed at them and Kakashi could feel a headache coming on.

"Ito-san, if we could-?"

He was cut off by the man's flapping hands. "Oh, of course, of course! I'm sure you want to get right down to business! Let me take you to the processing room that I have for new artifacts." Ito led them to another featureless door and he unlocked it with a flourish. "Welcome to my home away from home!"

The boys' interest was immediately taken by the imposing mannequin in the corner dressed entirely in ceremonial court armor, though they did not move away from the group. Kakashi took the lead in questioning. "So, Ito-san, please tell us the history of the artifact as you know. Perhaps, also, what it was? We've been referring to it rather vaguely since being assigned this mission."

"Right, right." Ito leaned against the large sorting table that dominated the room. "Last week I received an expected shipment of pieces found at a dig site up north, close to the border of Taki. In addition to the usual shards and armaments, there was also a perfectly preserved oil lamp, gilded in gold and beautifully designed, marked by Fire Country's symbols. It was clearly dug up from the same area."

"An oil lamp." Kakashi said it flatly, almost not believing what he was hearing. Mifune really sent for a team of shinobi to recover an oil lamp?

Ito seemed not to notice his lack of enthusiasm. "Oh yes! It was a beautiful piece, the engravings were quite stunning. It was in an older language that I am relatively unfamiliar with, though I could see that it was some sort of poetry or verse. I didn't get to examine it as well as I would have liked before it was taken."

Sakura had finished her perusal of the room. "Who has access to this room, Ito-san?"

The man looked thoughtful. "Other than me, only my two assistant curators have the keycode, but they haven't been here for days."

The boys turned their attention to the man as well and Naruto decided he had enough of being quiet. "Why?"

Ito grinned at him. "They just got married! To each other, I mean. They're on a wedding trip up at the same dig site I mentioned."

Sasuke looked at the man oddly. "A wedding trip to a giant hole in the ground?"

The man shrugged. "It might seem a bit odd to outsiders, sure, but they are passionate about conserving history. I'll have a hard time choosing between them as my successor in the future."

Kakashi felt the need to move the conversation along. "So no one but you had access to this room at the time of the robbery?"

"Nope!" Ito looked entirely too cheerful at the idea that he had handed them no information whatsoever.

Sakura looked how Kakashi felt. "Ito-san, could you please gather all your security guards for us to question? We will wait here for you."

He nodded and adjusted his glasses. "Right! Be back soon!" He left swiftly, whistling on his way out the door.

They all looked at each other and sighed. Naruto sat down on the floor and Sasuke just stared up at the ceiling. "An oil lamp, Kakashi-sensei? I feel like there's some sort of cosmic joke being played on us right now."

Sakura just stared after Ito with disbelief. "Remind me to poison Tsunade-sama's sake when we get home."

Kakashi sighed. "No assassinations until you're at least a jonin, Sakura-chan. Especially not in our own village."

After Kakashi questioned the fourth security guard and came up with absolutely nothing of value, he was starting to think this was going to be the first C-Rank mission that he had ever failed.

"Kakashi-sensei, can I make a suggestions?" Sakura looked at him curiously.

He waved his hand at her magnanimously. "I don't think I've ever heard you ask such a thing, Sakura-chan. Normally you're all commands and bossiness."

She made a face at him and the boys laughed at her expense. "Shush. I'm still trying to work under the whole harmless little girl façade." She leaned against the wooden table of the conference room Ito had secured for them. "Why not summon Pakkun? He could at least scent the processing room and tell us if there was anyone in there who shouldn't be?"

Kakashi's brain halted and then restarted sluggishly. Why didn't I think of that? Am I losing my mind? He chalked it up to having to tip-toe around the all the security guards' personal enmity of shinobi. One of them had actually snarled at Sakura, thinking she was the weakest and most vulnerable in the room. Naruto and Sasuke had immediately jumped to her defense and she kept her head down as if scared. Kakashi could tell the shaking of her body was due to repressing her laughter than any sense of fear.

"Ah," he said tiredly. "Good idea, Sakura-chan." He formed the seals and drew the required blood, aware that Sasuke was watching him with red eyes again. "Do not try this, Sasuke-kun. Remember what Sakura-chan said about summoning without a contract."

Sasuke's eyes faded to black and he sat back in his chair frowning. "I just wanted to see it. For future reference." Sakura gave him a venomous look and he hastened to add. "Supervised by you, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto poked his side with a grin and mouthed something insulting at him, which resulted in a tussle that ended as soon as Pakkun appeared.

"Yo."

They brought him back to the processing room, where Ito was carefully brushing off what looked to be a large clump of dirt sitting on a mesh screened part of the table. He was surprised by their entrance. Kakashi was not surprised by the fact that the door was left unlocked.

"Ito-san, Pakkun is just here to gather scent information. Please feel free to go back to your work." The man's eyes were nearly as bugged out as Pakkun's when he looked at the little dog.

"You have ninken! Oh, I had heard of summoned animals, but I've never seen them before in real life!" Ito's face was suffused with pleasure and Pakkun preened a little as he sniffed around the room. Sakura rolled her eyes and then patted her hair self-consciously and Kakashi had to turn his laugh into a muffled cough.

Ito stood stock still as Pakkun sniffed his pant leg and then trotted over to Kakashi. "There are two more obvious scents in here, but they're older. Spend a lot of time here though, for it to permeate like they did."

Naruto piped up. "Probably the weirdoes who went to go see dirt on their honeymoon." Sakura poked his side sharply in admonishment, though they could all see her mouth curled up in amusement.

Pakkun eyed him dubiously. "Sure, kid. Anyway, there's one other scent that was here within the last week that's not him." He pointed a paw at Ito, who squeaked.

"Just one?"

"I just said so, didn't I?"

Sakura cooed at him. "Aw, is someone grumpy today, Pakkun-chan?" He stared at her balefully, but she scratched behind his ears and apparently all was forgiven.

Kakashi stood. "We'll go check out the security guards we questioned, just to eliminate them from our list." The men were all still waiting in the second conference room where they had left them and Pakkun walked around them, sniffing at their ankles as they looked on disdainfully.

"Cleared." Kakashi let them out of the room with a falsely cheerful voice, thanking them for their time and patience and looked down at Pakkun, knowing he had something to say.

"The third man, the one with the ugly moustache. It wasn't him, but it was definitely someone he knows. The scents are very familiar."

"Family? Spouse?"

Pakkun put his paw up in the air in his approximation of a doggy shrug. "Likely as anything else. He's the one to watch."

Kakashi went over their plan at the inn and the boys were highly upset about the whole thing. Naruto was the first to whine at him with Sasuke sitting next to him with crossed arms and a frown. "Why are we the decoys? Why can't Sakura-chan be the decoy for once?"

She raised an eyebrow at them. "For once? Need I remind you what happened in Hitoyoshi, with the birds? Or maybe Esashi, when I had to henge into a geisha and was dragged back to an okiya by an actual geisha?"

Naruto quieted, momentarily forgetting his own annoyance. Kakashi took advantage of his silence. "Naruto, you will create two clones and henge them into Sakura-chan and I and enjoy a lovely dinner together as a team. We will find our target and see if Pakkun's nose was right."

They reluctantly did as he ordered and he sent them down to the inn's dining room, with instructions to have a long, conversation filled meal. It would put more strain on Naruto, but Sakura had been beating training into him and his clones for months now that his jinchuriki status was an open secret to them. He was capable. Kakashi was more worried about Sasuke's ability to hold a believable conversation for longer than five minutes.

He turned to Sakura, who had put her hair back up in its usual bun and senbon. "Why don't you just cut it?"

She shrugged, looking slightly sad. "I can't explain it. It just doesn't seem like the right time yet, sensei. I've minimized the danger it could put me, since it's so long." Kakashi wanted to tell her that it had been curiosity, not a condemnation of her choices. He wasn't sure what put that occasional grief in her eyes. Nothing in her file or her history indicated trauma or loss, but that look - it was the same one he saw in the mirror. But now was not the right time to ask. He wasn't sure if there was a right time to ask.

He tapped her hitai-ate affectionately, as was his habit and she smiled brightly at him. "We'll go under cover of genjutsu. Do you have enough chakra to maintain it for our surveillance?"

Her smile became secretive, but she just agreed. "Yes, don't worry about me."

"You know, every time you say that, I can feel another ulcer forming." They each formed hand seals to weave their genjutsu over themselves and then slowly crept out the door and down the stairs, taking note of Naruto, Sasuke and his disguised clones having a lively chat about the benefits of ramen.

He sighed internally. At least no knows us enough to realize how absurd it sounds to hear Sakura-chan agree with Naruto on ramen cooking techniques.

Slowly they made their way to the house where their target lived, as indicated by Ito's personnel files. After taking stock of the exit points, they decided on waiting out in the slim alleyway between his house and the neighbor's fence. They sat in silence for the next four hours in the blistering cold, watching the man through a window as he read and then made food for himself, getting some of it trapped in his truly hideous moustache. Eventually, he turned off his lights and went to bed without a single sign of another person in the house.

Kakashi nudged Sakura and they silently shook out their aching muscles, releasing their genjutsu in another alley away from potential watchers. He stared up at the stars. "Well, that was a bust."

Sakura shivered violently, flexing her fingers in an attempt to warm them. "Can Pakkun make distinctions between those who share blood and those who are similar in scent because they live together?"

"It's not usually a problem for him. Even I can tell when someone is similar in scent because they live together."

She grinned at him. "Are you part ninken, Kakashi-sensei? Do you have sharp teeth like they do under that mask of yours?" She knew that he did, actually, but couldn't help teasing him. His exceedingly keen senses were always something of a mystery to her, since she didn't know much about his family history.

"Maybe I do, but you'll never know. You and your little teammates can keep on guessing all the horrible things I might be hiding."

Sakura waved a hand casually. "Pft, we're done with that game, Kakashi-sensei. We're older now and wiser. We've matured."

"Right." He sounded entirely unconvinced.

"Besides, I'm pretty sure the only thing you're hiding is an atrocious tan line."

She entered the inn ahead of him, grinning at the annoyed sound he made at her back. Naruto and Sasuke were nowhere to be found in the dining area, so they went back to the room to look. Before she opened the door, Kakashi stopped her. "There are three chakra signatures in there."

"Not a clone?"

"Doesn't feel like Naruto at all, but he and Sasuke are in there with it. Low, civilian level."

She looked at him in askance. "What do you want to do?"

"I'll go in first, just in case. Can you cast another genjutsu on yourself after our surveillance?"

"Got it." With a few quick seals, she made herself unnoticeable, blending into the background. Kakashi turned the doorknob, ready to see what trouble his students had gotten into this time. He did not expect the first thing for him to see was a man tied to their room's only chair, blind-folded and gagged with a suspiciously ugly oil lamp on the room's only table.

Sasuke was keeping watch while Naruto snored on one of the beds, dead to the world. He greeted Kakashi with a smirk and then threw a kunai at Naruto's head, (hopefully) intentionally missing him by inches. It was enough to wake him up in a panic. "Huh? W-what? What's going on?"

Sakura had followed Kakashi in and taking in the scene, canceled her genjutsu. Naruto fell off the bed as he saw her appear as if from nowhere and whined when he landed heavily on the hard wooden floor.

The man in the chair struggled against his bonds weakly. Kakashi and Sakura stood next to each other in silence, waiting for an explanation. Naruto popped up from the side of the bed and grinned toothily at them.

"Looks like you guys were the decoys after all! We caught this guy tryin' to sneak into our room with that thing." He pointed at the lamp and then shrugged. "He said he was gonna wait around for you to come back, but Sasuke tied him to the chair anyway. He kinda looks like that one security guard from before."

"I … see."

"I can't believe we wasted four hours of our life in an alleyway." Sakura echoed his own thoughts. She inclined her head toward the man. "Shall we get on with it?"

"Might as well." Sasuke took the blindfold and gag off the man. He blinked fiercely in the low lighting of their room and stared fearfully up at Kakashi, the most obviously imposing one in the room.

"P-please don't kill me! I was going to return it eventually!"

Kakashi didn't blink, but leaned forward slightly. "You stole an oil lamp. We're not likely to kill anyone for that."

The man shrank down in his chair. "I know what you shinobi are like! But I-I promise, I just wanted to see if I could use the lamp!"

Sakura was bemused. "Do you not have electricity in your house?"

He was thrown by her comment. "W-what?" She looked at him expectantly. "That lamp is supposed to have a djinn! It says so on the engravings!"

The room was silent for a long moment, but like the professional he was, Kakashi was not long deterred. "The djinn are legends, not real creatures. What made you think you would actually find one?"

The man scoffed at him, his certainty at the djinn's existence overriding his fear momentarily. "I have seen the things you people can do. Why would a djinn be out of your reach?"

Sakura muttered to herself. "Can't really argue with that." Kakashi sent her a warning glance as the man looked at him smugly, clearly having heard. She shrugged and went over to inspect the lamp. Not sensing anything amiss, she picked it up with both hands. At her touch, it emitted a high pitched whining sound that made Naruto and Kakashi blanch and started shaking violently. Sakura hurriedly put it back down on the table, wide-eyed, but it didn't stop moving.

There was a sudden surge of enormous chakra that made all of them tense, even their civilian captive. In a cloud of smoke and was that glitter?- a teenage boy appeared on the table, sprawled as if he were dead. They all froze, eyes glued to the boy as he sat up groaning. His olive skin was decorated by white tattoos that covered the left half of his body and he only wore a loose pair of ostentatiously bright violet pants. He rubbed his eyes and then waved, eyes zeroing in on Sakura. "Hi. I'm Taiki. You must be my bride."

She could hear the twin shouts from the boys behind her, but she was too busy being uncharacteristically dumbfounded. Kakashi pushed her behind him protectively and glared at Taiki. "Where did you come from?"

The boy shrugged casually and waved his hand at the lamp. "There, of course. I've been waiting for ages and ages for my bride to finally appear." Sakura peeked around Kakashi's arms and Taiki smiled ruefully. "Though I was hoping for someone older."

Naruto growled at him. "What makes you think she's yours, asshole?"

Taiki was unconcerned by his behavior. "Technically, it's any woman who touches the lamp. She was the closest, so I just assumed." He looked at Sasuke thoughtfully. "It wasn't you, was it?"

Naruto was now torn between righteous anger and intense amusement that Sasuke had been, not for the first time, confused for a girl. As usual, he couldn't resist. "Too pretty for your own good, Sasuke-chan."

Sasuke's face was pink. "Shut up, idiot."

Kakashi said, in a tone that he thought was very modulated and cooperative, "You may not have any of my students as your bride."

Taiki pouted at him attractively. "But it's already been done! She and I are bonded spiritually."

Sakura leaned her forehead against Kakashi's back. "I hate everything." She peered around her teacher. "What does that mean, exactly?"

Taiki smiled happily. "Mostly it means that I get to stay outside of this stupid lamp! But for you, not much." He grinned at her teasingly. "At least, not until you're much older."

"Ugh. I meant, does that mean you can just … go away? I have no interest in marriage to some strange boy who lives in a gaudy lamp."

Taiki hummed thoughtfully. "I suppose. The curse wasn't actually very specific. I've always wanted to see the world. It's probably changed so much!" His eyes brightened. "It will be an adventure!"

"Yes," Sakura said flatly. "An adventure indeed."

Taiki hopped down from the table gracefully and grabbed the oil lamp with disdain, pressing it into her hands. "I'll go have my fun, but you have to keep this." His form started to dissipate, like he was being pulled away and Sakura could definitely see glitter this time. He grinned at her, white teeth gleaming. "I'll see you again."

With those last words, he was gone.

Kakashi turned to look at her. "Well." There was a beat of silence as they contemplated the series of events that just took place. "We found the stolen oil lamp."

Sakura slumped down next to the bed by Sasuke's legs. "Why is it always me?"

Note: channeling neville longbottom. poor sakura-chan!