The next few weeks were filled with exercises in frustration. Not by any friction with my teammates, Itachi was still my first friend and Yara was a capable teammate.

D-Ranks were drudgery, but I knew about them ahead of time, and made sure to stone-face my way through Grunkle Sarutobi trying to get a reaction.

I used to do ranch work old man. You think I'm scared of a little dog shit?

Anyways, the D-ranks were just work, and it allowed me to learn a bit more about my teammates.

Itachi is one fast son of a bitch, no disrespect intended to Lady Mikoto. But the kid can run. He was the first of us to figure out the Shunshin and never missed an opportunity to use it to show off to our delivery mission clients.

Yara was the most balanced out of us, she was fast, learned about everything she could, and was aggressive enough in training that she could bull through Itachi's dodges to just keep hounding him. During our D-ranks she was the most agreeable. Itachi wasn't used to menial labor yet, and I mastered the art of disassociating when performing labor a long time ago.

Me? In taijutsu training I was the aggressor of the group. Bull-rushing down Itachi and Yara to keep them from getting into the flow of their clan's taijutsu styles. During the D-ranks, I mainly focused on getting things done quickly but well. There were a few jobs we had on the outskirts where some newlyweds wanted a deck built or maybe Old Man Ichiraku needed his stand repaired because some drunks busted a stool or two.

I'd carved enough gun stocks to know the basics of carpentry, and that skill earned us a good bit of praise from our clients.

As far as the early career of a team of genin goes, things were going well, hell they were going greataccording to our mission record.

No, the source of my frustration was on my experimentation front. My free time had nearly disappeared, which I think was actually the plan that Nanako, Biwako, and Pop Pop had cooked up.

The downside of living in the same house as your Sensei? Training is never over.

Ma and Pa had gotten the store back up and running and were seeing a new renaissance of clientele once word got out about the new quality of steel, but I couldn't do much to help out beyond delivering a few completed orders from time to time. No, when I got back to the Sarutobi compound, it was to train with Biwako and Pop Pop.

I learned more about medical ninjutsu, and was constantly made to do chakra control exercises. There was a week in which that if I was spotted on the floor at all….

You don't want to know.

Long story short, I wasn't getting enough time to work on my boomsticks, and that makes Isshin a dull boy.

That doesn't mean I've managed nothing of course. My flare gun now boasted an additional barrel and I had sourced enough brass to make more cartridges that were up to modern standards and not the misshapen copper messes that were my initial tests.

Unfortunately, every single time I was about to get to work on refining that flash powder into proper smokeless, someone would find me.

Pop Pop wanting me to learn more earth style ninjutsu, Dad wanting help at the store, hell, even Hiruzen showed up to grab me for something at some point. I guess that should've tipped me off, considering I don't remember what the Hokage asked me to do that night, I think he hit me with some sort of genjutsu.

I realized why when we hit the 90 day mark and we hadn't even taken a C-Rank yet.

"It's been months, Sensei!" Yara groaned after a day of training that left the three of us genin heaving breaths on the ground.

Nanako had decided to hit us with what she called an 'experienced chunin' level opponent.

It was a beefed up water clone.

A single beefed up water clone.

God I hate ANBU.

Anyways, Nanako took this chance of us all being too beat to crap to give us some rather important information.

"The delegation from Kumo will be arriving tomorrow." She announced, "they'll be observing the nine-tails memorial, and then negotiations for the cessation of hostilities between our two villages will be held."

"Is this why we haven't gone on any C-ranks, Sensei?" Itachi asked, sitting up.

"It's why none of the rookie genin teams have gone on C-ranks yet." Nanako clarified as I picked myself up using the tree I was under.

"Too much risk of an incident with the negotiations about to occur, rookie teams consisting of mainly early grads, more chances of mistakes. Mistakes in this climate equal international incident."

"And international incident equals more war, which isn't good for anyone." Nanako concludes,

"So what are we going to be doing while we have foreign actors in our home?" Yara asked, earning a grin from our Sensei

"So, our first C-rank, my little Genin, comes directly from Dad." Nanako gives a grin that does not bode well, and she pulls out a scroll, and breaks into the worst impression of Grunkle Sarutobi I've ever heard.

"Team 12, consisting of Genin Nara Yara, Genin Sekitangara Isshin, and Genin Uchiha Itachi, are tasked with assisting the Military Police force in maintaining the peace within the duration of the negotiations with the Village Hidden in the Cloud." Nanako quickly stores away the mission scroll and allows that to set in.

"What does that even mean?" Yara asks,

"It means we're being bribed into staying in the Uchiha District." I groaned, "no offense intended 'Tachi."

"None taken."

"Maybe if someone didn't keep letting off pipe bombs after work hours, this wouldn't be an issue!" Yara snarled out at me, and I threw my hands up in frustration.

"I haven't detonated anything in six weeks!" I exclaimed, I hadn't had an accidental pipe bomb since the incident with Lady Mikoto.

"Bullshit!"

"I find that unlikely."

"Outvoted, it's official, Isshin, you're a public relations risk." Nanako declared with a grin. "Your improvised explosive experiments have gotten you noticed."

"Sensei, I beg to differ." I declared, standing up and crossing my arms over my chest, standing with my back straight. "I only use high quality materials, and they are crafted meticulously, to call them 'improvised' is an insult!"

My declaration was met with flat stares and an audible groan from Itachi.

"Yara."

"Shadow Possession Jutsu Complete, Sensei."

Aw hell.

WHACK! "FUCK!"

"I have no idea how you passed the psych evaluation last week." Nanako mutters, twirling the Tonfa she just bonked me over the head with.

"Jonin Yamanaka was nursing a hangover." I admitted, rubbing the bump on my head, hearing a grumbled 'Damn it, Uncle Ino!'

"Sensei." Itachi finally speaks up, "My father usually lists assistance missions like this as D-ranks. Why is this a C-rank?"

"Simple, Itachi, no set end date." Nanako explains, "we don't know how long these negotiations are going to take. It could be done in a week, or it can be done in the beginning of next year."

"Diplomacy missions are reserved for chunin and higher for a reason, kids. You are away from home for months, if not years at a time. You are expected to relay bad news, and worse news to people who have a bad habit of killing the messenger." Crane appears and stares the three of us down.

"This is an opportunity that you three will make the most of. Isshin, Yara, pack well, you won't be returning home until the mission is over."

"Yes, Sensei!" Yara's always eager when Crane makes an appearance, I think she's thinking she might want to be an ANBU later on.

"That makes no sense!" I exclaim, earning a glare from the ANBU facade.

"It's not your place to question orders, Isshin. You need to learn to trust the chain of command, that the bigger picture is being taken into account when you are given an order." They take an imperceptible breath, "we are shinobi. We operate on Need to Know. You do not Need to Know."

I let out a soft sigh, nodding quietly.

"Yes, Sensei." I mutter, meeting Crane's eyes, they nod before turning to Itachi.

"I will be pushing you as well, Itachi." Her tone leaves no room for argument. She addresses all of us once again.

"I will be pushing the three of you to your limits during this deployment. It does not matter that we will be within the walls, this is still a mission, and you will display the professionalism and expertise expected of my Genin, am I understood?!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

—

October Tenth is a significant date in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The anniversary of the Nine-Tails attack, a memorial for the fallen is held, and a festival is held to celebrate their lives and the 'defeat' of the Fox himself.

The Konoha Military Police were out in force among the festivities, making sure drunks didn't break anything, and that no fires got set. Last year I spent this with my family and the Uchihas, I got to show off some homemade fireworks.

This year, I'm posted on the roof of the orphanage. Directly below me I'm distinctly aware of baby Naruto and Grunkle Sarutobi's chakra signatures.

Crane appears next to me in a puff of smoke, white porcelain ANBU mask securely in place.

"Location of the target." She demands, and I focus up.

She put me here on purpose, to make me learn how to filter out specific chakra signatures whilst being nearby larger more potent ones.

"Tall, scarred male, east of Ichiraku Ramen, he looks inebriated, but it's an act. He tossed the alcohol into the chrysanthemums outside Yamanaka flowers." I reported, looking through a set of binoculars. Tracking a man who wants to be seen is a lot easier than trying to hunt a mule deer, I'll tell you that much. It was honestly concerning.

"You're being relieved. Hokage-sama is requesting your presence." She spoke, and I brought down the binocs, hitting her with a raised eyebrow in question. She removed her ANBU mask and hit me with a questioning look of her own.

"Do you want to hold the baby or not? This is the only break you're getting." Nanako explained, and I quickly threw the binoculars at her and ducked down into the orphanage itself.

I quickly found myself in the same room as Hiruzen, Baby Naruto, and Biwako, surprisingly enough.

"Isshin, it's good to see you." Hiruzen spoke, sitting in a rocking chair whilst Biwako was gently cradling Naruto. He gave me that grandfatherly smile he would get when he was finally home from the tower and done for the day. "Most Genin, during their first festival deployment, sneak off to spend time with their families. The Jonin pretend not to notice, it's a harmless little bending of the rules, so long as there's enough MP's around."

I give a quick shrug in response and take a step closer, Naruto's eyes are wide open, bright blues full of curiosity and wonder.

"His name is Uzumaki Naruto." Biwako speaks softly, a gentle, mournful smile on her face.

"….happy birthday, little guy." I give a small smile, earning a giggle from the toddler.

"Connected the dots, did you?"

"Not a hard deduction, Ooji." I quipped, earning a grin.

"Fair enough, fair enough. Would you like to hold him?"

I was a little hesitant, but decided to go for it, I held my hands out and waited to see if Naruto wanted to move. He tilted his head for a second before he shifted and reached out, I quickly took hold of him and shifted him to my shoulder, he was hefty for a 3 year old. I rubbed soft circles into his back and I feel him yawn and snuggle into my shoulder. I let a soft smile grow on my face, cute kid. I gently rock, content to let the poor kid use me as a pillow.

"You're an old hat at this, aren't you Isshi?" Biwako comments with a soft smile.

"Did you have children of your own, in your past life?" Hiruzen asks, and I freeze.

"It's okay, Isshi." Biwako quickly speaks, still smiling.

I take a moment. Thinking, still holding the chibi-ed protagonist. I look up, close my eyes, and pray that I'm about to make the right decision.

"No. No I didn't."