A Hole in One's Heart [Kakashi Hatake]

Chapter 55: Nine-man Squad

Funny story guys, this was going to be a super short chapter. I decided that since the last twenty-ish chapters have all been well over two thousand words that I would make this one short and sweet. Well, I just started typing and this chapter did not turn out short, in fact it's quite long. But you know what, I looked at my plans for each chapter and the next chapter would have ended up being absolutely enormous so I moved some of the things that were going to happen then into this chapter. Well, not that anyone really needed or wanted to know that (seeing as you don't know what I had planned in my head so what I post is literally all that you see of my story so those details don't affect you in any way, shape or form...) I am going to stop now and let you guys get on with the story. Enjoy!

---------------Kakashi's POV---------------

     I shuffled the large stack of files on my table. They were all statistics on different ninja and teams, and for once I was ahead of schedule and very motivated. Last night, I had been there when the Hokage informed Naruto and Sakura about Sasuke killing Orochimaru. At first, Naruto had been ecstatic thinking that Sasuke was planning on returning to the village, but that wasn't the case. In fact, Sasuke seemed to have no plans for returning but had instead dedicated himself even further to his revenge. Never one to give up, Naruto came up with a very intelligent strategy (needless to say, this shocked me after having known him as a knuckle-headed twelve-year-old). He claimed that by going after Itachi, we could kill two birds with one stone. We could hunt down and possibly eliminate a dangerous S-ranked criminal and member of the Akatsuki, and by tracking Itachi, it was likely that we would find Sasuke as well and possibly bring him back to the village. So here I was early in the morning, shuffling through paperwork. The Hokage had assigned me to lead this mission, and I was putting together a nine-man squad that I felt had the best chances of completing the task. Compiling all of my files into a single unit, I made my way to Lady Tsunade's office to ask approval for my plan.

     She placed the papers back down on her desk after carefully flipping through each page, "This is extremely well thought out, Kakashi. Merging the chunin members of Team Kurenai with your Team Kakashi will have the perfect balance of skill sets for this mission. Just promise me this, keep a close eye on Naruto and Ana. We can't have them falling into enemy hands."

     I nodded, "Of course, Lady Tsunade." I bowed and left (bowing really wasn't necessary, but I can't seem to lose my ANBU habits) while the Hokage and Shizune sent out messengers to all of the people that I had assigned to the mission telling them the time to meet at the gate. Because I was already ready, I just walked down to the gate and started reading, hoping that maybe I could startle them with my punctuality.

     As I was flipping through my book, Ana showed up first.

     "Dear god, Kakashi! You're here early!" I smirked, that was just the reaction that I was hoping for.

     "Well, I'm not late for everything, you know."

     She walked over to me, all shock at me being there on time already gone, which made me a little bit upset. "So you requested me for this mission?" I nodded as I flipped to the next page in my book as she continued, "I'm shocked, usually all you do is worry about me endlessly." I sighed because I realize that I do worry a bit too much, but I really can't help it. Besides, my causes for worrying are all legitimate. Ana really is in serious danger often and acts like nothing is wrong.

     "Well, this is a tracking mission and between your sensory skills, byakugan, and summons, you really are one of the best trackers in the Leaf so it would be foolish to not assign you to this mission." Ana nodded and pulled Tales of a Gutsy Ninja out of her weapons pouch and sat down next to me to read. I turned my attention back to my book. That was not a good idea. Usually I don't even think about what I am reading; I've read these books so many times that I just read them to calm my mind as I think. But with Ana sitting way too close to me, I began to really think about the contents of the small book in my hand. I had just gotten to a very "steamy" part as Ana would put it. I closed the book with a snap, and Ana looked up at me in confusion.