Eyes Of A Snake (Rewritten) [On Hiatus]

Chapter 8: First Mission & Death of two Hokage

"Obaa-san!" Tsunade cried one morning when they reached the Hokage's office to find Mito seated there, reading an enormous scroll.

"Tsunade-chan," Mito greeted wearily and Tsunade noticed she looked extremely tired.

There were lines under her face, an odd sight because, despite the fact that her grandmother was over fifty, she never appeared more than thirty. The same could be said for her grandfather and grand-uncle; Tsunade admired that about them.

Mito then nodded at Orochimaru and Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya-kun, Orochimaru-kun," she said. "I suppose you have come for your first mission?"

"Why are you in the Hokage's seat?" Jiraiya asked, rather impudently.

Hiruzen shot him a disapproving look, but he was unfazed.

"Hokage-sama is out fighting in the war. I am filling in for him with administrative duties meanwhile," Mito said, frowning.

Tsunade knew her grandmother probably wanted to fight; she'd told her that a night or two ago during dinner when Tsunade had finally gotten a chance to meet her amidst all of her other meetings.

"Mito-sama, they have come for their first mission," Hiruzen said.

"Indeed," Mito nodded, picking up a scroll, and holding it out, "Team Seven, your first mission will be a D-rank mission. Your job is to capture a missing cat. A description of the cat and its details are given on the scroll. You have a time limit of two hours to complete this mission."

"..."

"..."

Tsunade and Orochimaru were both silent, feeling rather let down. Jiraiya, however, had never been one to keep quiet.

"What?" he screeched in indignation, "We're not animal-sitters! We're ninja! We want a proper mission, not some lost pet retrieval!"

Mito narrowed her eyes, and Orochimaru swiftly stepped in, taking the scroll.

"Thank you," he said softly, "We will not disappoint you."

"Jiraiya," Hiruzen chastised under his breath, "That was most insolent! Why can you not behave more like Orochimaru?"

"What, like that suck-up?" Jiraiya rolled his eyes, "Please. He can go find as many lost kittens as he wants to. I want real missions."

"Jiraiya-kun," Mito interrupted, and Tsunade noticed she seemed somewhat amused, "There are no real missions right now, except war-missions and those are all A and S-ranked which are far beyond your abilities. We're at war right now, so all escort missions have been withdrawn. D-ranks like this are your only choice."

"Meh, fine," Jiraiya grumbled, attempting to wrest the scroll away from Orochimaru who pocketed it just in time.

"You three may go," Mito dismissed them, "But Hiruzen, please stay back."

She sounded tense, and Tsunade wondered why.

"Bye, Obaa-san," she called before leaving, and Mito nodded at her.

"Finding lost cats," Jiraiya mumbled, "Ridiculous!"

As soon as they were out of earshot, both Orochimaru and Tsunade rounded on him.