She folded the letter back up and shoved it in her pocket. A ghost of a smile flickered on her face, but was gone in an instant. Good thing he didn't think she just came to cry on his shoulder or anything like that.

"I need a huge favor. I'll need a new assistant, but I need to post the job and have whoever I hire trained. That's going to take a few weeks to a month or so and work will back up unless I have a temporary assistant. I'd have Karin do it, but she needs to make chuunin before I give her any official jobs. Is there anyone you can spare from the village? Just until we can get whoever we hire trained right. I'll pay a fee to the village and give whoever comes their own weekly stipend. We can arrange an apartment nearby the administration building too."