The whole next week was full of nothing but scouting the edges of the village. The worlds events had died down to almost nonexistent, and I was sure that the war had finally come to pass. The village was calmer, as those who weren't on the front lines didn't have many missions, so they were learning to enjoy life with their families again. I could feel the peace sweeping over not just Konoha, but the areas and smaller villages surrounding it.

I had been finishing my mid-morning look out for the day on the eastern most edge of the village walls when I heard someone approaching in the distance. It was another Shinobi on guard who I had the pleasure of meeting early this morning. His name never came up, but of course just like everyone else, he knew mine without even asking.

"Kakashi." He said, as he appeared by my side. "The Hokage has new orders for you, he says it will begin this afternoon so you better head over to him now, I'll take your post."

I nodded in thanks before flickering away, heading toward the Hokage's office. I hadn't had anything too specific from him in quite some time, but I wasn't worried too much. Anything but guard duty would be enough to entertain me at this point, even a simple escort mission. I hopped over the rooftops, watching people below going about their daily lives and I couldn't help but think how nice it must be to not have any worries that us Shinobi have. I chose this life and I don't regret it, but I wonder what people possibly do all day without these responsibilities.

The Hokage's estate was quiet outside and inside today, as I had said, not much was going on that required immediate attention, so the only ones around were those who worked here every day. As I entered the long winding hallway leading to the Hokage's office, I heard voices from around the corner.

"What exactly was all that fuss about, who was he?" The first voice was almost a whisper, a female.

"Nothing too serious, don't you worry. We took control of the situation and for now he is no threat." The second voice replied, a male.

The way he spoke made me believe that he was ANBU, he had nothing but authority in his voice, but he wasn't anyone who I had the pleasure of working with, which means he was from further in the ANBU chain, beyond anyone working for the Hokage.

As I rounded the corner, I got not even a second's glance before he flickered out of sight, his mask had been on, so I wouldn't have recognized him anyway. The girl was still standing there just beyond the door though. When she saw me, her face turned a bright red, she smiled sheepishly and walked past me quickly. She wasn't ANBU, but she knew the man that she was with personally, otherwise there would be no reason for her to ask such questions, let alone address an ANBU.

The door was cracked open as it usually was, and I knocked twice before slowly entering the chambers. Minato-Sensei was sitting behind his desk, shuffling through some papers with one hand and rubbing his temple with the other. I cleared my throat as I approached the middle of the room, trying to get his attention since he clearly did not hear me knock.

His head raised quickly when he heard me. "Kakashi! When did you get here?" He said, sincere surprise on his face and in his voice. "Never mind. I'm sorry, I did summon for you." He scrambled slightly trying to clean his desk up. He looked exhausted, like he hadn't slept in days.

"Are you okay Sensei? You look kind of awful." I said as I took a knee and bowed to him. I know he hates my formalities, but not only as his subordinate, but him being the Hokage, I couldn't skip them. I know if anyone were to see me, they would find it disrespectful.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I haven't been home in three days. Kushina brought me dinner last night, but no matter how many times I tell her to stay home and rest she won't listen. Did you talked to her like I asked?"

I did unfortunately. She wasn't very happy with it either.

I cleared my throat before speaking. "In her own words she said that she didn't need anyone to take care of her, y'know?" I told him. What I didn't say was that she swiftly gave me a good knock on the head and told me to let Minato-Sensei know when I saw him to stop sending me. We both knew that part wasn't going to happen, but she didn't seem to mind or notice when I would watch her from afar for him.

"She is so stubborn." He shook his head and smiled. "That's one of my favorite things about her, she always has thought that she didn't need anyone, but for some reason she has always made me think that she needs me."

I didn't really understand that part. If you don't need someone, you just don't need them and vice versa. Why lie to yourself or them for what seems like pity? I looked at the ground thinking about that situation to myself before he spoke again.

"You'll understand one day Kakashi. Love is a strange thing, but it is a wonderful feeling to be loved." He said.

I shook my head. "What was the mission that you had for me sir." I didn't want to talk about love anymore. I have been alone for so long that it didn't interest me in the slightest. I was very happy for Minato-Sensei and his family though; they were the closest thing to family that I had too.

"Ah that's right. It's an ANBU mission, but you won't be needing your team for this. I just need you to do a sweep of the forests outside of the village, but I need it to be thorough and report anything strange that you see or even if it is just a sensing." He grabbed a paper from the pile on his desk. "There was a sighting about a week ago of a man in a black cloak, but the ANBU that were dispatched took him into custody and the threat if any was reported to be taken care of. I just want to make sure that he was the only one in the area." As he finished, he smiled at me the same way he used to smile at all of us before a mission. "Don't cause to much trouble for yourself Kakashi, think of this as a time to get away for a while."

I knew he was up to something; such a simple task could have been given to any ANBU working under him. He always is trying to find ways to get me distracted from myself, my darkness, as the ANBU's leader Lord Danzo had said once. I don't share his ideals and Minato-Sensei knew that, which is why he assigned me as his personal bodyguard, he didn't want Danzo to have control over me and this way he couldn't.

I nodded my head. "Yes sir. I can leave as soon as possible." I said in my most professional tone. I could almost feel his eyes roll as he turned around to look out the windows over the village.

"Alright, you are dismissed, get your gear and head out." He waved his hand behind his back and I left quickly to prepare for my assignment. I didn't want to tell him, but I was excited to get out of the village for a while, this should only take a few days at the most, but it will be nice to be away from all the noise.

I got home and grabbed my mask and cloak, the evenings could get cold in the forest, there being so much overhead coverage it didn't warm up much during the day. I also was going to be alone, so sleeping in a high tree would be my safest plan. Covering myself with the cloak would make the most sense since it was black, almost like a camouflage in the darkness. I grabbed my tool pouch and headed out to the front gates, letting the guards know the necessary info so that I could leave. The gates opened and I sprinted out into the trees, surveying as I went. I had to get far enough away out of the range of the guards on the walls. There was a specific area that they could watch, and I would just be a distraction if I stayed too close.

After about an hour of distancing myself I began to slow to a walk and took it easy looking around and focusing my energy on just that. I had my mask on and sharingan exposed beneath it for extra visibility. Although I was quite used to having it covered, the mask made seeing slightly more difficult with one eye.

The animals around the forest were scampering around happily, not even caring that I was near. The peace of this place could soothe an angry bear, not a sound other than the leaves blowing and little paws hitting the ground, and feathers flapping through the sky above the canopy of trees.

I spent a few hours slowly examining for anything out of place and had yet to find a single thing that seemed like a threat or even that anyone had been in the forest at all. Whatever those ANBU had dealt with clearly wasn't a major threat if there weren't any struggle signs whatsoever in the area where they had found him. It seems like a safe time to take a break; the sun had begun to set and the little bit of light that was still shining through the trees was starting to get dim.

I climbed my way to the tallest tree in the area and stretched out on a branch before pulling some food pills from my tool pouch on my hip. It wasn't the greatest meal that I could have had, but this being not much more than a stroll through the woods, I didn't want to bother with making a fire or cooking anything. I wouldn't be using much if any chakra either, so it would be best to just conserve what I could as a precaution.

Night fell and I let my mind drift as I closed my eyes and wrapped my cloak around me. The branch I was on was thick enough that I didn't have to worry about rolling off in the middle of the night, I did have a tendency of doing that in the past. I let the soothing night noises start pushing me into a light sleep, but only moments later what sounded like thunder rumbled in the distance.

Great, now I had to worry about an incoming storm and I'm sleeping at the top of a tree. I kept listening for another roll of thunder, but it never came. Maybe I'll get lucky tonight and not have to move. As that thought left my mind a loud CRACK echoed through the forest along with another loud boom that seemed to shake the entire earth.

Suddenly, I was thrown out of the tree as a last BOOM seemed to envelop the area surrounding me, the sound piercing my eardrums sending me into unconsciousness as I was falling through the air toward the ground.

I blacked out.