It was now a stormy night, Aceso had just gotten done with open-heart surgery. She walked out of the room to find Sakura leaning against the wall. 

"Hello, Sakura," Aceso greeted as she took off her mask.

"Lady Tsunade would like to see you," Sakura revealed as she looked at her. "Are you off?"

"What time is it?" Aceso asked.

" 8:30," Sakura reported.

"I'll be in the office in 30 minutes," Aceso said.

"But the Hokage," Sakura began.

"I have to go fill out some paperwork," Aceso said.

"If you come with me now, we can go get some tea, my treat," Sakura offered.

"Sakura, I can't just leave my shift," Aceso shook her head.

"Lee said that works on you," Sakura huffed.

"Huh?" Aceso asked looking at her.

"Lee told me that whenever he needs to convince you to do something, tea is always in the leverage to get you to agree," Sakura explained.

"He normally gets the tea from my stash in my room," Aceso answered. " He just makes it so I don't have to." Aceso started to walk over to the front desk.

"But it's urgent," Sakura scrambled to her side. "Lady Tsunade doesn't want to be kept waiting."

"What are you two arguing about?" the check-in nurse asked as they reached the front.

"Lady Hokage needs to see Doctor Matsuba, but she won't go to the Hokage until her shift is over," Sakura explained.

"It's alright Doctor Matsuba," the nurse giggled. "If it's the Hokage asking for you...you shouldn't keep her waiting."

"You sure?" Aceso asked.

"Positive," the nurse giggled. Aceso thanked the nurse before going to the Hokage's office with Sakura. She knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Tsunade said.

"As you requested my'lady," Sakura announced as she opened the door.

"A mission?" Aceso asked.

"More like a heads up," Tsunade answered.

"Huh?" both girls asked.

"In the span of two months I will assign you to, 3 missions, after the third one I will officially be sending you off," Tsunade explained. Aceso's eyes went wide. So she could be leaving next week or in two weeks. "Are you sure you are up for this? You can always back out."

"No, I am still up for it," Aceso answered. "But why the heads up?"

"So you have a bag ready at a moment's notice," Tsunade explained. "And then you can take time to spend with people you care about as well."

"Thank you," Aceso said slowly.

"You sound unsure," Tsunade pointed out. "Are you sure you will be up for this?"

"I'm sure," Aceso said more confidently. "You can count on me. Is there anything else?"

"That is all for now," Tsunade said. "You ladies have a good night."

"You two," they chimed as they left the office.

"Well, I'm going to head home, dinner is almost ready," Sakura said.

"Have a good night, Sakura," Aceso said as Sakura dashed off.

"There you are," a voice said, Aceso looked to see Lee. His face was full of relief. 

"I thought you were on a mission," Aceso brought up.

"I had a list of D-rank missions to complete, I finished not too long ago," Lee answered. "No problems." Aceso closed her eyes and gave him a half-smile. "Are you hungry?"

" Let's go get some ramen," Aceso suggested. They reached the ramen shop to see Naruto already there. "Hey, there Naruto." She took a seat next to him as Lee sat on the other side of him.

"Bushy Brow, Little Sister," Naruo greeted as he slurped up a noodle. "What were you two up to?"

"I just got back from the hospital," Lee answered.

"Your leg still bothering you?" Naruto answered.

"What can I get you two?" Teuchi asked.

"A small bowl of Veggie Ramen, please," Aceso requested.

" A small bowl of Miso ramen, please," Lee requested.

"Coming right up," Teuchi laughed as he turned to make the bowls.

"So, what were you doing in the hospital?" Ayame asked as she helped.

"I had finished my list of D-rank missions for the day, and her shift ended at 9, but when I got there, she wasn't there," Lee answered. "She agreed to do some training with me at the dojo."

"Huh?" Aceso breathed as furrowed her eyebrows. "Honestly, I completely forgot about it."

"Forgot about it! Forgot about training? You forgot about the parts of your youth!" Lee shrieked as he threw his hands to his head. "How?"

"Guess it must have slipped my mind," Aceso sweated.

"I'll train with you Bushy Brow," Naruto offered.

"Really?" Lee asked as his eyes sparkled.

"Maybe not after ramen, but tomorrow morning," Naruto suggested.

"I am ready for that training session," Lee gave a thumbs up.

"A veggie and Miso," Teuchi said as he put down the two bowls, Ayame gave them a glass of water.

"Thank you for the food," The two said in unison. They both began to eat their food.

"Why did you leave the hospital early?" Naruto asked as he put his chopsticks in her bowl, snatching noodles.

" Oh," Aceso breathed softly. "Lady Hokage needed me."

"What did Grandma Tsunade want that was so important?" Naruto asked.

"She wanted to give me a heads up," Aceso answered as she watched Naruto take some bamboo shoot.

"About what?" Naruto asked.

"In about two months or less, I should be starting my doctor's journey," Aceso answered.

"Oh, that's got to be exciting!" Ayame chimed as Lee stared at his bowl and Naruto paused staring at the bamboo shoot.

" A little nerve-wracking too," Aceso smiled a little. "But exciting at the same time."

"Do you have any spots you are going to hit up first or at all?" Teuchi asked.

"The Sand Village is definitely on my list, Lady Tsunade says I should save that for my last stop before returning to the Leaf Village," Aceso answered. "Along with the villages we have helped in the past."

"Two months or less you say?" Lee asked. His voice seemed a bit uneasy.

"Yeah," Aceso answered as she looked over at him. She noticed he and Naruto were both in similar moods.  "Lady Hokage said she'll give me three more missions and after the third one I'll be sent off."

"So that could be next week," Teuchi said. "Here." He gave all three of them another bowl of ramen. "On the house."

"Oh, yeah!" Naruto cheered. Aceso put her meat in Naruto's bowl. "You don't want meat?"

"I did an open-heart surgery about less than an hour ago," Aceso answered. "Open heart surgery and meat aren't exactly complimenting each other today. Teuchi and Ayame both laughed as Naruto started to help put the meat in his bowl. After eating ramen, they all went back home.

"Let me walk you home," Lee requested as he appeared next to Aceso.

"It's out of your way, though," Aceso pointed out.

"It's not out of my way if I get to spend time with you," Lee said.

"Huh?" Aceso asked. She was glad it was dark, or he would see her cheeks turn red.

"I mean...your last day here for a while is coming up soon, it could be any day...I want to spend as much time with you as possible," Lee tried to explain as his cheeks started to turn red. "I'm sure we all do."

"I just hope Kakashi is home when I leave," Aceso wished. "I don't want to leave until I can say bye to him."

"He will be there!" Lee assured as he gave a thumbs up along with a sparkly smile.

*****

The next morning Aceso was up on the rooftop was folding up sheets with Sakura slammed the door open.

"Sakura!" Aceso jumped.

"Lady Tsunade wants to see us," Sakura revealed. "Have you seen Lee and Naruto?"

"They are doing some training together," Aceso answered.

"Where?" Sakura asked.

"I think down by the river, they talked about it last night at Ichiraku ramen," Aceso answered.

"Come on!" Sakura urged. She grabbed Aceso's suspenders before running off to find the other two.

"Naruto! Lee! Where are you?" Sakura called out. They stopped running once they found them. They were on the side of the river, and they both punched each other at the exact same time, in the cheeks. They groaned, before falling back and letting out a sigh.

"I guess this concludes their training," Aceso stated.

"What the heck? What'd you guys do to each other?"S Sakura asked. The two girls sat the two help and put some bandages on them.

"Sakura..."Naruto groaned as he tried to move away from her.

"Would you stop moving?" Sakura demanded.

"Take it easy, it wouldn't kill you to be a little more gentle," Naruto complained.

" Oh, shut up," Sakura huffed. " If you weren't so reckless this never would have happened."

"Sorry," Lee apologized as Aceso put a bandage on his cheek. "I do not mean to argue, but you are mistaken." He held up a finger. "Using a hundred Shadow Clones is an excellent tool for sharpening one's Taijutsu skills. Not to mention the fact this kind of friendly training is an excellent opportunity for Naruto to sharpen his skills as well, thus killing two birds with one stone."

" I was just going to say that," Naruto smiled in agreement.

"Call it what you want, but all you were doing was beating on each other," Sakura argued.

"Isn't that just part of training?" Aceso asked. She could recall all the time she trained with Lee...he trained differently than Gai and Kakashi. Those two adults made sure to not hit them too hard, especially when she was a small child. Lee made sure not to hit her as hard as he would hit an opponent, she would do the same for him.

"Beating on each other?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "As those two were just doing."

" Of course, we were," Naruto smiled. "Guys always do that when we get together."

"You got that right," Lee agreed. The two gave a thumbs up and sparkly smile.

"Fine, whatever," Sakura sighed as she stood up. "We don't have time to sit around here arguing about it. Lady Tsunade wants to see us."

"What did we do wrong this time?" Naruto asked.

"Why us?" Lee asked. They went to the office, Lady Tsunade had a mission she wanted them to go on.

' A mission so soon? One more and I am gone for two years. I really need to get packing. And I haven't seen Papa Kakashi with all the missions he has been on,' Aceso thought to herself.

"Ninja Dropouts?" Naruto repeated.

"That's right," Tsunade confirmed. " It's a group of ninja who've chosen to leave their villages and give up the life of a Shinobi to go live in the wild with others like them. They're a band of savage thieves who use their skills to steal what they want."

"You're serious?" Sakura asked. "They actually use their Shinobi abilities to commit crimes?"

"Unforgivable," Lee frowned.

"One of their members was captured yesterday in the Ogi Pass in the Land of Forests," Tsunade explained. She pushed the mission slip forward. "This particular guy is wanted in just about every village you can think of." Aceso picked it up. " He was wandering through the woods when he was captured. His name is Gantetsu."

"He doesn't look like much of a ninja to me," Naruto said.

"We're hoping Gantetsu has information that will help us wipe out the Ninja Dropouts, so he's being transferred to the capital city of the Land of Forests to be interrogated," Tsunade explained. "We're assuming the Ninja Dropouts will try to recuse him somewhere along the way. The police are taking every precaution, and have assigned a full escort to assure he makes it to the capital. But since the opponents are ninja, they've asked me to assign several of our own ninja to ensure the success of this mission. So then that's why you're all here."

"This is awesome!" Naruto cheered. "We'll show those guys what the Hidden Leaf Ninja are made of."

"That's right," Sakura agreed.

"Those guys will not stand a chance," Lee determined.

"Good, then," Tsunade said as she stood up. "Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Aceso Matsuba, Rock Lee. The four of you are assigned to the mission of guarding the Gantetsu convoy."

"Yes, ma'am," they said.

"You can count on us," Aceso smiled. Not too long after that, the four packed and were now standing on a cliff looking down at a ship.

"There it is," Sakura said pointing at it. "That must be it." They walked down and over to a man being held in a cage.

"Whoa, they're gonna transport him in this?" Naruto asked.

"They have no choice," Aceso said.

"The only way to get to the capital of the Land of Forests is up the river," Lee added.

"Hey, you guys, look," Sakura said. They looked up at the man.

" That must be..."Naruto began.

"The Ninja Dropout, Gantetsu," a voice cut him off. They looked back to see a man walking up to them. "Are you the Hidden Leaf Shinobi?"

" Yes, sir," Aceso confirmed.

"Uh, who are you?" Sakura asked.

"I'm Tsuzumi, from the correctional facility," He answered. "I'm the one in charge of this convoy."

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto introduced himself. "This is Rock Lee, but you can just call him Bushy Brow." Lee saluted the man. "This is my sister Aceso Matsuba, but you can call her Doctor Matsuba." She waved. "And this is Sakura Haruno." She nodded.

"Hmm. No disrespect, but you look kind of young," Tsuzumi said. "Are you sure you're really ninja? And a doctor?"

" Of course we are," Lee said.

" Yup. I Know we look young, but have been on dozens of missions," Naruto explained. " We are definitely full-fledged ninja."

"When the time comes, you will see just how good we are," Lee said.

"Leave everything to us," Aceso assured.

" I expect the security team I've assembled to be able to handle the situation," Tsuzumi said. "But if that's not enough, I'll be counting on you and your ninja skills."

"Yes, sir," Sakura breathed as they watched men walk past them.

"These are the men that I've placed in charge of the prisoner's security," Tsuzumi said.

"They're are dressed exactly alike," Lee noted.

"You're right," Naruto agreed. "Those guys sure don't have much style."

"Naruto, that's rude," Sakura scolded him.

"Ah, Captain Todoroki," Tsuzumi greeted.

"Yes, chief. What can I do for you?" Todoroki asked.

"These four ninja are here will be joining us as backup," Tsuzumi explained.

" The name's Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto greeted.

"Sakura Haruni," Sakura greeted.

"Aceso Matsuba," Aceso greeted.

"And my name is Rock Lee," Lee saluted the captain. The man narrowed his eyes at them.

"But, chief, we discussed this. I told you, we already have enough security," Todoroki said.

" It's out of my hands. The orders came down from above," Tsuzumi said.

"If you want to help, stay out of our way," Todoroki ordered. "My men and I will guard Gantetsu. I swear by the power of my sword." He unsheathed his sword. There was a little fish hanging off of it.

"Oh, yeah? Well, that sword is nothing," Naruto said. "I could snap it in two without even trying. I could even do it with one hand."

"With just one finger," Lee said.

"Would you guys knock it off already?" Sakura demanded. "Please excuse them."

"If you get seasick, try not to throw up on deck," Todorok advised as he put his sword back and walked away.

"We'll see you on board," Tsuzumi waved at them.

"Yes, sir," Aceso smiled. " Thank you." She turned to the two trying to fight the captain. "Please do not make our clients hate us."

"But Aceso-" Naruto began.

"Besides, I think the sword is pretty special to him," Aceso added.

"What could be so special about a sword?" Lee frowned.

"Maybe not the sword itself, but there was a fish thing on the handle," Aceso explained. "Kind of like a kid's toy. This mission is probably personal to him since he's so keen on guarding Gantetsu with his own man."

"Or he's a little too proud of his skill," Naruto huffed.

"All right!" Todoroki called out. "Let's lower the prisoner into the hold."

"Right there!" a man shouted. " Bring her down!" The cage got lowered into the lower half of the boat. "Keep coming? Keep coming, and...there." They got on board, soon enough the horn blew and they set sail for the capital. They stood at the end looking out at sea.

"Wow," Sakura gasped at the view.

"This is great," Naruto smiled. Hours passed, it was now sunset

"This is ridiculous," Naruto complained. "They won't even let us see the guard we're supposed to guard."

"They treat us like pests who are in their way," Lee complained.

"Yeah, well, if those Ninja Dropout guys would just attack, then we could really show them how amazing we really are," Naruto said.

" Don't say things like that," Aceso advised.

"We're better off if the Ninja Dropout never shows up at all," Sakura added. "It's our mission to get Gantetsu safely to the capital, not show how amazing we are."

"Yeah, I know. But still, I'm bored," Naruto said. "How am I going to keep myself occupied?"

"Just deal with it," Sakura ordered. "It's part of the mission.

"It may be part of the mission, but I agree with Naruto," Lee argued.

"You're right," Sakura agreed." I'm getting bored myself." She sighed and so did the other two. Aceso, on the other hand, stared at the floor, with all that on her mind, she was far from bored.

"Little Sister," Naruto breathed. "Aren't you bored?"

"Yeah," Aceso lied as she looked up. The other two sighed, while Lee stared at her. He could tell she was lying, why she did, that he didn't know. Lee also couldn't help but notice how sunset almost matched Aceso's hair. Not much later, they broke out ramen cups to fill their bellies.

"Well, dig in," Naruto said. " I still can't get over them treating us like this. Who do those guys think we are?"

"Though I have to admit, this stuff is good," Lee said with a mouth full.

"It's not bad at all," Aceso agreed.

" Still, it makes me mad," Naruto pouted. "Seriously, why do they even ask us to come on this stupid trip anyway? " He slurped down the soup. "Ah!" He got to his feet. "Well, I don't care what they say, I'm gonna go stand guard."

"But Captain Todoroki's gonna get mad at you," Aceso pointed out. " A ninja's got his pride." Naruto grunted, "If I get in trouble, two of us may as well." He grabbed Aceso's hand and dragged her along with him.

"Ugh, Naruto," Sakura groaned.

"Are you sure?" Lee asked. Naruto knelt down and opened the small doors, he pushed Aceso in before crawling himself. When they got to the bottom, they saw Gantetusu sitting in the middle with his eyes closed, showing zero resistance.

"This guy even looks like a criminal," Naruto whispered. Aceso put his over Naruto's mouth and got down. They saw Todoroki standing on the other side of the cage. Suddenly, Todoroki fell against the wall breathing heavily.

"That's it," Todoroki growled. He took out his sword, he looked ready to kill Gantetsu. Naruto gasped getting on his feet.

"What the heck are you doing?" Naruto demanded he pushed Todoroki to the ground. "Stop it. Are you out of your mind?"

"Huh?" Todoroki breathed.

"What were you gonna do just now?" Aceso asked as she stood up. The captain breathed heavier as he looked at the two ninjas.

"You two. What are you two doing here?" Todoroki demanded.

" What we are doing here isn't important right now," Aceso answered.

"Question is, what were you getting ready to do to Gantetsu?" Naruto asked angrily.

"What are you inferring?" Todoroki demanded.

" It looked like you were planning to use your sword on him," Naruto answered.

"Me?" Todoroki scuffed as he stood up. "That's ridiculous. It's my mission to see that this man reaches the capital safely, and that's what I'm doing."

"That's good because no matter what this guy's done. He still needs to be interrogated and given a fair trial before anything else," Aceso said.

"Brats!" Todoroki growled. "Like you two know what he deserves. This guy doesn't need to be interrogated. He did everything they said."

Huh?" the two breathed.

"Oh, he did it," Todoroki confirmed. "He's the one. A lot of innocent peopled died because of him. Even kids." Aceso gasped. " He showed no mercy at all!" Gantetsu opened his eyes. They all stopped at the sound of something being sliced. Suddenly the upper deck started to slide off, and into the water.

"What the heck?" Aceso and Naruto asked.

" That's impossible," Todoroki stated.

"Naruto! Aceso!" They heard Sakura call out.

"Over here!" they heard Lee shout. Gantetsu then stood up looking out at the forest.

"You!" Todoroki growled marching up to the cage. They saw a few figures appear in the forest. " The Ninja Dropouts." Todorokie took out his sword. "They're here."

"It's about time," Naruto said. Three figures jumped out of the forest, and onto the sliced ship. They stared down at the people at the bottom.

"What have we got here?" Aceso asked.

"Don't move," Naruto warned as he held up a kunai. "You'd better tell me who you are right now."

"I'm Shura, head of the Ninja Dropouts," one introduced himself. He took out a large umbrella.

"You scum," Todoroki hissed.

"Just hand him over," Shura ordered. " Gantetsu is with us."

"Sorry, but that's not gonna happen," Aceso denied. Shura laughed as he narrowed his eyes at the young ninja.

"All right kids, better get out of there if you don't want to get hurt," Shura warned.

"We are no kids," Naruto denied. Gantetsu sat back down. " And if you think we're handing him over, your crazy!"

"Ninja Dropouts," Todoroki twitched.

"Well, if that's the way you want it, then it's your funeral," Shura smirked.

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted putting the hand signs. More Narutos appeared surrounding the cage. Shura smiled more, he opened his umbrella and flew up. He then landed on top of the cage.

"Ninja Art. Blood Rain," Shura said. He closed his umbrella and pointed the open end at them. "You just didn't listen." Needles shot down, taking out the clones. Todoroki then got struck.

"Todoroki!" Aceso exclaimed.

"All right, you..."Naruto growled as he got ready to fight. Shura took the handle off, revealing a sword, and jumped down. All of Naruto's clones and Aceso all threw kunai. They all got blocked. After defeating the clones, Shura faced the two ninja that stood in front of Todoroki.

"My Jutsu isn't ninjutsu," Shura began to explain. "It's a murder Jutsu."