Kisame nodded at his assistant's arrival. It would actually be a good fit for Naoki's skills, he thought. There was steel under the exterior, but he'd seen for himself that Naoki's personality seemed to lower people's guards. He was a good pick for an envoy himself, if a little inexperienced yet, so Kisame wasn't at all surprised by the assignment.

That he was undertaking this mission with someone he tolerated, quite a bit more than but he wasn't about to say that out loud, was a bonus.

"Ready to depart? We're headed to Sunagakure first." Which Naoki presumably knew, but Kisame wanted to give him a chance to go back and get anything he might have forgotten. The desert wasn't forgiving of even small lapses.