[09/16-10/05] Closed

[not_thedragon]

Who: Sasuke, Gai, and impressionable youth
When: 09/16 (departure) - 10/05 (return)
Where: Land of Mountains (returning to Konoha in second thread)
What: Mission to Land of Mountains (requested by Fang). A-rank. You may think it would be hard to misplace Konoha's Green Beast, but you'd be surprised.

[See top-threads.]

Comments

09/16 -- departure

[not_thedragon]

There were things Sasuke liked to know about his sensei, cousin, and Hokage, like when his office hours were, whether his paperwork was actually done or if Sasuke was going to have to help him cover (or throw him under the wheels as served), or if he ever had a slot of time available to train or spar. There were also things Sasuke knew as a matter of course, like what Obito's favourite food was, what he thought the best thing about Konohagakure was, and when his birthday was.

There were, however, things Sasuke never wanted to know except maybe in the most distant, removed, acknowledged-because-of-familial-relationship way. Kakashi's birthday had revealed some things that fell into that latter category, and Sasuke was frowning at the mission scroll and trying to school his mindset into strict mission mode in order to never think about the other jounin on the mission in any way except as a comrade.

(It helped that there was still a bit of immature excitement when he remembered that he was a jounin, finally.)

[morningpeacock]

To be out on a mission so soon after Kakashi's birthday was a bit dismaying, mostly because Gai felt one should spend that time with their friends and comrades, bonding.

(But it helped that there was still a bit of immature excitement when he remembered that he could think of Kakashi as his boyfriend secretly, too. That thrill alleviated some of the pain of leaving, though it created an additional sadness that was completely new. Gai had looked forward to spending time with Obito and Kakashi, as boyfriends, even if they did nothing more than their usual activities. They did not have much time together between their declarations-of-love and Kakashi's birthday, alas.)

Missions were important, however, and bonding would happen again when he returned. Besides, Obito had entrusted Gai with a very important task. Looking after the newly-minted Jounin Sasuke on his first mission in a position of leadership was not something Gai was going to take lightly and he would do his best to let this be both a good and a learning experience for Obito's student/cousin. Though, it would be strange to defer leadership to a younger jounin for a change, especially after having a team of students for so long.

(Oh, how they have grown!)

Hefting his pack into place, he peered over Sasuke's shoulder. "Is there a problem with the mission scroll?" he asked, noting the frown.

[not_thedragon]

"Wha-" It was probably not good form for the anointed leader of a team to jump at the approach of an ally, but Gai's voice over his shoulder boomed right as Sasuke was trying to untangle exactly how much extra care he would need to take to keep his cousin and kage's ... something safe. "It's fine!"

The two Chuunin glanced over from where they had been quietly conversing, and Sasuke hastily rolled up the scroll and tucked it back into a pouch.

"I'm just confirming final details," he said to Gai, then turned to address the group more fully, voice easing out into habitual command -- he was no stranger to leading chuunin missions. "This should be a straightforward mission. We'll be in unstable territory, but the chance that they'll risk openly violating our ceasefire is low, so we just need to extract the scroll fast enough that they don't have an excuse to react.

"I've reviewed your dossiers," including Gai's, which had been impressive and somewhat alarming (there had been a number of comments speaking to overenthusiasm and great skill, a combination of personality traits Sasuke didn't have much personal experience wrangling). "I'll be placing you accordingly. Any questions?"

10/03 -- rescue

[not_thedragon]

They'd barely been a day out from the border of the Land of Fire, the mission tracking easily for an A-rank, and then they'd been ambushed by shinobi wearing no village markers and using no discernibly unique techniques. It shouldn't have been possible for ninja who were missing-nin rabble at best, mercenaries at worst, to successfully destroy a tightly-organized mission team -- but they hadn't been trying to attack them, not really. There had been just enough of the enemy to keep them occupied for the amount of time it took to disguise their intent, and by the time Sasuke and the pair of Chuunin that had accompanied them realised that Gai had been drawn away from their group, it was too late.

The only luck was that their enemies had clearly expected them to return to Konoha for reinforcements first. They'd bought time by giving immediate chase, but the pair of enemy-nin they'd captured hadn't given in to the member of the mission team who had moonlighted in T&I for another day. It had at least been clear that Gai was intended as a live hostage, not a dead body, but it had taken Sasuke ...

It had taken measures that didn't bear thinking about at the moment. Sasuke left the Chuunin to handle the rest of the disorganized guard at the entryway to the group's hiding spots, advancing with sword drawn to the cells in the back and looking for a hint of green spandex in the gloom.