"We have a mission," I  announced.

Michiko whispered a gleeful, "Yesss!" under her breath. Aisa gave a little jump, grinning. Even Kento perked up. Ever since I had finagled Tsunade into providing his sister health care, Kento had improved. He looked more well rested, was more alert, and had done better on all his training overall. He was showing his true potential and finally backing up his classroom ranks with substantial foolproof evidence.

He'd gotten to the training grounds before the other two today, and when I raised an eyebrow, he gave a small, tight grin and told me,"I quit my other job yesterday." 

I had simply nodded, and he, seeing my small sign of approval, lit up.

"What's the mission?" Aisa questioned eagerly. "Are we delivering a priceless artifact?"

"Escorting more idiots?" Michiko asked dryly.

"Stealing a priceless artifact?" Kento inquired gleefully.

"None of the above," I replied dryly. "This is a reconnaissance mission. We're infiltrating a small village that has been said to be supporting a growing criminal organization. We aren't there to fight or shut it down. We just want to get a feel for it's size, reach, and goals, and what exactly is going on in that village. The organization currently poses no threat to Konoha, but we should gather this information while the danger is still small."

Michiko frowned. "How are we infiltrating? Won't it be a little suspicious if all four of us go? We're pretty clearly a ninja team, right?"

Such smart young ones.

"Exactly," I said. "You three will be carrying out the infiltration by yourselves-- at least, to the casual observer. I will be there the entire time, lurking in the shadows. On the off chance I end up following a lead of my own and need to rendezvous with the group elsewhere, I will snag and inform one of you. When the time is best, of course. Being caught impersonating or infiltrating is not a lightly taken crime or mission. You three need to be careful. Efficient, but careful. You need to watch out for each other. And always remember, I'm there."

Their eyes brightened as they looked at me with a certain sparkle in their eyes. These idiots, I will never be able to reason why they're so fond of me.

"As for the leader of this mission," I continued. "Kento will lead this time. Understood?" Kento's face brightened and his shoulders straightened as the other two looked to him in support. "Yes Sensei!"

"We will leave tomorrow morning. Be at the gates by 0500. As for the briefing, I'll inform you of further mission details after training today." I finished, smirking. They thought they were going to get out of training with the news, huh?

I was met with three identical groans that only made my smirk grow wider.

***

"I'm ho-ere!" I announced, walking into my old apartment.

"Kitchen," Aiden called back. "Is Aisa with you?"

"Nope," I replied. "He's hanging out with his teammates. Said he'd be back before dinner, though. What are you making?"

"Stew," Aiden answered. "Will you start the rice?"

"Sure," I agreed, grabbing the rice and beginning to measure it out. "My team has a mission," I told him.

Aiden's shoulders tensed only slightly. Most would have missed the movement but I caught it at a glance easily. "How long?"

"It starts tomorrow morning. Just some intel gathering; I couldn't see it take any longer than a week. " I shrugged.

Aiden let out a quiet breath, as though collecting himself, that I didn't think I was supposed to hear. "Alright." He nodded. "Be careful."

I started the rice cooking and leaned against the counter as Aiden stirred the stew. "Aisa is progressing well with his tonfa," I informed. "They suit him well."

"That's good," he said. "What about the ninjutsu? I heard one of his teammates was struggling with walking on water or something."

"Aisa's proficient. Michiko has better chakra control than him, but I think that's only because she's naturally more sensitive to it. Kento is the worst by far, but he's progressing," I told him.

"Good, good," Aiden mumbled distractedly as he measured out spices to add to the stew. "'Scuse me," he murmured, reaching around me for a loaf of bread. While retrieving it, he glanced down, met my gaze steadily, dipped his head, and kissed me hard on the mouth.

I blinked when he broke the kiss, watching as he casually turned back to the stew, cutting up a few slices of bread for something to mop up the leftovers with. "Tea?" I finally offered, not knowing what else to say.

"Maybe after dinner," he answered. "Do you want to make a dessert?"

At the very mention of dessert I smirked. "How does strawberry chocolate tarts sound? Or I've been thinking about making some tiramisu."

"I just bought some fresh strawberries, actually," he replied with a smile, dark eyes crinkling. "So the chocolate strawberry tart thing?"

"Sure," I agreed. "I'll get the shell started. Can you grab the cream and vanilla? I'll get the chocolate." I had learned early on to hide my baking chocolate from Aisa.

By the time I had finished pouring the filling into the shell, Aisa had returned. "Ooh, what's that?" He asked excitedly.

"Chocolate strawberry tart." I handed him a small knife and pointed at the rinsed strawberries. "Chop the tops off for me," I ordered.

Aisa sliced them, handing them to me to arrange on top of the chocolate tart. "Did you tell big brother about the mission?"

"Just that we have one. You can tell him the details," I replied. I had briefed them all about the mission details after training, just as I said I would.

Even though Aiden was clearly not a big fan of our missions, Aisa could never help but unintentionally rub it in Aiden's face with his joy and excitement for what was to come.

I rolled my eyes at his juvenile delight. So young, so innocent. One day he would be exposed to the dark world outside the walls of Konoha. He would think he'd already seen everything, growing up. But in reality... I shut my mind to various possibilities. Those thoughts were useless.

All you could do was take each day as it came.

***

"The village isn't far-- less than a day's travel." I informed my team once Michiko, the last of the group, arrived. "You're all ready?" I asked.

They nodded silently.

"Then let's move out," I nodded to one of the gate guards in a respectful gesture, and began my run through the woods, genin on my heels.

When we were closer to the village, I slowed to a stop. "Let's go over the mission once more."

"The village has a high arrival and departure rate, so there's no worries about people being overly suspicious of our arrival," Michiko began.

"Especially because we're going in without you, sensei. No one will notice three more street rats," Kento added.

"And because we're young, vulnerable kids, it shouldn't be hard to gain a small entry level position in this criminal organization to figure out what's going on with it and this village. Right?" Aisa finished.

"Yes," I nodded. "I'll be entering the village first; around two hours later--not exactly two hours, you idiots--you guys can enter. If circumstances permit, I'll find you tonight and we can go over what we've found and make any further plans. Make sense?"

"Yes, sensei!" All three exclaimed.

"Good. We have about 15 more minutes before the village will be in sight. You guys will wait about five minutes from that point. And stay hidden, you idiots! Got it?" I asked once more, looking all three of them in the eye.

"Yes, sensei!" They agreed once more.

"Let's go."

***

I walked into the village with my hands shoved into coat pockets, eyes alert and shoulders slumped in practiced apathy. There was clear poverty in this village: boarded windows, dull clothing, dirt roads. And yet...

I tried to walk over the bridge that spanned across the stream that cut through the village, and two guards crossed their weapons, barring my path.

"Present your identification," one guard ordered. I stared, one eyebrow quirking in question. "You must have identification allowing you to cross this bridge."

I peered around them, glimpsing decorated houses and paved roads and well dressed woman. Clearly the poverty in this village was constrained to one side of the stream.

While I was observing the disparate conditions on the separate sides of the river, one of the guards pulled back his weapon to hit me in the stomach with the butt of it. I smoothly stepped to my left, using my hand to misdirect the weapon well wide of its intended target.

"You...!" The guard spluttered. The other guard jabbed at me with the sharp end of his spear, and I was forced to jump backwards to avoid injury.

"Get out of here, scum," the second guard snarled. I raised an eyebrow, took two more steps back while facing them, then, deciding there was no threat of them attacking me with my back turned, spun around and walked away.

Interesting.

***

"It's almost been two hours now, right?" Aisa asked.

Michiko glance at the kunai they'd stabbed into the ground to act as an impromptu sundial. "Not quite," she answered.

"Well, we don't want to show up exactly two hours later," Aisa pointed out. "If anyone noticed it would be vaguely suspicious."

"Then we'll start toward the village at around 2:10, which means we'll arrive around 2:20 to 2:25," Kento replied, absentmindedly twirling a  kunai around his finger. All three genin had been forced to leave their weapons of choice behind by Cashile. Apparently, the weapons would make them stand out too much. Aisa sighed. He liked his tonfas.

A couple minutes later Kento picked himself up off the ground. "C'mon guys. Lets head to the village now."

Aisa and Michiko picked up their few belongings and followed nearly behind but closely aside Kento. As they approached the village gate, they allowed their demeanors to change to unsuspecting behaviors -- slouched shoulders, weary, ignorant eyes and the haunted abandonment of a kid left to fend for himself. After all, they had learned from the best.

As the three genin reached the entrance of the village, 2 guards crossed their path. Not nearly as strict as the guards which surrounded the guard gated rich community, but the common guards which controlled access into and out of the main city.

"What is your business here, children?" One questioned.

Kento stood out, replying confidently, "Our village -- hundreds of miles away-- burned down, taking most of our belongings and all of our family. We've been moving ever since, trying to... trying to find somewhere to build a new life." 

Michiko, taking advantage of her femininity, as Cashile had taught her to, whimpered slightly, looking more distressed than the other two. Tears fell from her eyes, and the guard who was speaking to them quickly caught sight, an uneasy look crossing his face. Aisa put an arm around her, whispering hurried words into her ear as though attempting to calm her.

"Of course, my condolences," the guard said, stepping aside to let them through.

"Arigato," the three murmured, walking past him. Michiko brushed at her, cheeks, offering the guard a shaky smile that he awkwardly returned. 

"Do you see sensei?" Aisa murmured.

"No, but do you really think we would just casually spot her while entering? The whole point was to split up," Kento shot back quietly.

"It's almost dinnertime," Michiko cut in before it could devolve into an argument. "And we don't have a place to stay, yet."

"You think we should pay for a place to stay?" Aisa asked, surprised. 

"You don't? What, were you planning on sleeping on the ground?"

"Uh," Aisa hesitated, then admitted, "Yeah."

"It gets cold at night," Kento pointed out.

"So we find some cardboard and a building to break the wind," Aisa shrugged. "We don't have much money, and we'll run out of rations pretty quick. Bed or food."

Kento frowned. "We'll look for a place to stay, and unless it's ridiculously cheap, we'll turn them down."

"And anyone watching will know that we're basically penniless and desperate," Michiko realized.

"It'll hopefully draw out someone ready to take advantage of us," Aisa added on, face remaining stoic to hide his glee from any watchers. Kento smirked and nodded.

"And we can find out what exactly is going on in this village."

________________________________________________________

Hi guys!

Sorry for the long long long break between updates :( I was super busy then Supes was super busy (heh supes super) and then there were midterms and ahhhhh

BUT now midterms are over and school will be done in May and I'm just freaking out about getting a summer job/internship and housing for next year! And paying for college... and taking out loans... and ANYHOWWWW

Comment long and beautiful comments for inspiration! 

What do you guys think about the third person POV from the team's perspective!

Comment!

gaara119

Ya'lllllllll,

We finally updated! Sorry it took so long to get out there, college is kicking our asses dudes. Anyhow, A/N can't be too long because Microbiology is waiting... But comments are nice! Thanks for reading all!

Supes

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