"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?"