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Sun and Moon

The air in the room was filled with tension. Kakashi was seated behind his desk, looking at a scroll that had been delivered to him earlier that day. In front of the desk, Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru were standing—waiting for the urgent information—while Sasuke was a step or two behind them. He wasn't formally part of their mission squad, and he didn't want to insert himself into it, even though he was invited by Kakashi to listen in. Sasuke didn't know if that was all he was called in for, or if his involvement was going to be greater.

Naruto was bouncing a little bit, which Sasuke saw out of the corner of his eyes. The man was restless and impatient. He wasn't the only one who noticed though, as Sakura quickly bumped into him and glared. Even in this tense moment, their childhood antics gave Sasuke some wistful nostalgia.

Finally, Kakashi looked up from the scroll. "It seems Takahashi is making moves near the border."

The four of them became highly alert.

"A small village was raided by an unidentifiable monster of sorts. Other small villages near the border are requesting help from Konoha shinobi until Takashia is captured." Kakashi stated, his monotone voice ever so calm.

"How are we supposed to just lend a bunch of villages shinobi? Who'd protect Konoha then?" Shikamaru said, his voice void of emotion. He wasn't wrong. If Konoha lent out its shinobi, then the village itself would be exposed.

"We're not going to."

"Huh?" Naruto asked, incredulously. "What if he kills more people?"

Kakashi eyed him. "It looks like Takahashi didn't kill anyone in that village he raided. The villagers said he ruined their crop and smashed some abandoned houses."

"He's still an active criminal who killed his own men! Who knows when he'll kill someone again just because he feels like it." Naruto exclaimed.

Kakashi sighed. "That's true."

"Well, then, shouldn't we—" Naruto tried to continue on, but Sakura bumped into him again, obviously agitated.

"Why don't you let him finish first, Naruto?" She bit out.

Naruto huffed, but gave Kakashi the room to continue.

"I'm sending out multiple teams towards the border. They'll mainly be intel based ninja. Because our goal, right now, isn't to engage him in combat, since we're unsure of what type of weaponry or abilities he has acquired—or even what his goal is. If we can track him though, we can predict his movements and be ready to attack if necessary." Kakashi stated.

"What if he rampages or something?" Naruto asked.

"There's risks to every mission, but I trust our Konoha shinobi, don't you?" Kakashi smiled under his mask.

Naruto nodded.

"Also, as you might've noticed, Hinata is still bed ridden. She's conscious and eating, but the effects of the poison are giving her visual prowess some difficulty. So, she's no longer part of the squad. But..."

Kakashi gestured towards Sasuke.

"Good thing there's more than one ninja with superb visual prowess in the leaf. Sasuke will be joining you all, on official Hokage orders this time." Kakashi let the "official" sting Sasuke a bit.

The three of his fellow shinobi looked over their shoulders to look at Sasuke. Naruto with a wide grin and a thumbs up, Shikamaru with no emotion whatsoever, and Sakura with some upset. No matter how all of them were feeling, they'd have to work together. None of them were childish enough to let personal feelings interfere with their mission... Well, at least, he liked to think that.