A/N: PICREW LINK: picrew.me/image_maker/399481/
Breaks weren't often for shinobi; it was just part of the job, so Kakashi and Javen were quick the following day to report to the Hokage about the mission.
Javen wasn't keen on telling the Hokage that he had told everyone that he was an ANBU and had done precisely what he wasn't supposed to. He could tell Kakashi wasn't keen on telling Lord Third that they took a mission that was too hard for the team.
When they entered the Hokage's office, Javen couldn't look up to meet his eyes. Lord Third could read Javen like a book, however, and he spoke before either of them could,
"So Kakashi, I suspect you know who Javen is now and his actual rank?"
Javen hung his head in shame as Kakashi nodded and spoke, "I did pressure him, but yes, I do know."
"Javen, raise your head." Javen listened to the Hokage before the man spoke again, "Javen, I do not hold it against you. I will be forced to strip you of your title as an ANBU should anyone outside your group hear about this, though."
Javen's gut twisted, and Kakashi must have noticed cause the man placed a hand on his back, rubbing it softly to calm him down. Javen could never imagine not working for the Hokage.
"Yes, Lord Third."
They then chatted about the mission; Hiruzen, of course, lectured them both about the level of the assignment before sighing and saying that he was relieved that at least everyone was okay. Before Javen and Kakashi were dismissed, Hiruzen brought up one more subject.
"The Chunin exams are coming up soon. I need Kakashi to decide with the other Jonin Team Leaders whether his kids are ready for the exams. Still, regardless if they are or not, I will be moving Javens rank down to genin momentarily as I need him to mentor the exam from the inside." The Hokage spoke, and Javen raised an eyebrow.
"Lord Third, I do not wish to question your motives, but I am way above chunin, or even Jonin, rank. So why would you want me in the exams?"
Hiruzen put his pipe in his mouth and took a long puff from it, "This is the most people we have ever let participate in the exams, and honestly, there have been some worrying signs. I know that if you were just a proctor, all the kids would just misbehave behind the scenes."
Javen nodded in understanding, "I understand. What about the one-on-one battles?"
"I want you to proctor the final exam, the 1v1's, and I also want you to try to stay out of genins way if you can help it. Go easy if you fight them."
Javen nodded, "Yes, Lord Third."
With that, Kakashi and Javen left the Hokage's office, and the men headed toward the Team 7 training grounds.
"I suppose we should tell the group, should we not? I told them to meet up with us first thing in the morning."
Javen shot him a look in disbelief. "We went to the Hokages first thing in the morning. It is way after that..."
"I'm making them practice patience."
Javen let out a long sigh as Kakashi ran ahead to sneak up on his students. They all met on the bridge near the training grounds, and Kakashi perched on the top, "Well, good morning, everyone!"
Kakashi waved from above, and the others gritted their teeth in anger at Kakashi's bullshit. Javen was still walking up the bridge as his sister yelled at the white-haired man.
"Why were you leaving us sitting here for hours?!"
Kakashi grinned and pointed at Javen, "We had a date!"
Javen looked at Kakashi with wide eyes, and so did the others, and when his sister made eye contact with him, he frantically tried the explain.
"We were in a mission debrief with the Hokage. Not a date." Javen waved his hands frantically.
Kakashi nodded, "That's what I said."
Javen's jaw dropped and then clenched in anger, "No, It most definitely was not, Hatake."
Kakashi must have sensed he had annoyed Javen caused he switched topics fast, "We have a few easy missions today, mostly just helping out here and there, but we do have some news."
Kakashi looked at Javen, "Javen has been demoted to a genin for the time being and will not be promoted again if word gets out he used to be an ANBU. Is that understood?"
Javen raised an eyebrow. Kakashi obviously had a reason for not telling the whole story, but he figured he wouldn't pry.
The others looked at Javen with pity and started asking questions like,
"What happened?" "Why?" "Was it because of the mission?" "Did you lose your power?"
Javen shook his head, "It's nothing so simple, and you should not worry about it right now. I am still myself and working with Kakashi to teach you all. Now, in the meantime, we should all focus on the missions throughout the day. I'll do my best as one of you?"
The missions from the day were simple, yet every single one went wrong. The first was a simple job pulling weeds. Naruto managed to pull the weeds and some, pulling all the herbs out of the garden. The second was also simple, cleaning the river and throwing away litter. Javen rolled up his pants and took off his shirt so he wouldn't get wet and actually joined the group on this one while Kakashi read on the riverbank. Again, it was going simple until Naruto slipped and fell, getting swept away by the river until Sasuke grabbed him. The third and final mission was walking dogs. Javen was relatively scared of dogs, ironically, so he stayed up in the trees with Kakashi, even at one point completely passing out and falling asleep on the branch he sat on with Kakashi. That was until he heard explosions and saw Naruto being dragged through a trap field by a big dog. He let out a heavy sigh.
"He's just showing off as many young teens do." Kakashi spoke quietly and peered over his book to look at Naruto, "He'll only learn the hard way."
Later, on the way to debrief the Hokage, Kakashi patted Javen's shoulder.
"Can you watch the kids for a bit? I'll talk to the Hokage, but I want to go sleep before I have to talk with the other Jonin."
Javen nodded, "Of course."
So, of course, as soon as Kakashi left, Javen did the most reasonable thing he could and turned to the kids, "I think we should all go our separate ways now."
"All right, then I'm headed home." Sasuke nodded and walked away.
Which, of course, caused Sakura to run after him, "Sasuke! Why don't we work on our team work together?"
It was nice to see his sister trying to get closer to Sasuke because most reasonable people would give up on him after being insulted.
"You're just like Naruto. If you have any time to spend with me, you should work on your jutsu because you're now less than Naruto." Sasuke spoke with such malice that Javen stepped in.
"You'll be begging to have her talent in a few years. Haruno's are known for their excellent chakra control and strength, Sasuke. Uchiha's are known for their kekkei genkei, but I'll be honest, your chakra control is way worse than hers. You have to learn your basics before you can brag." Javen spoke with malice right back and watched the cockiness of Sasuke's expression fall.
"You are the best in the group right now, but if you aren't careful and keep thinking you will stay the best, you will be the worst very soon." Javen sighed and turned to face Naruto now, "And you, don't get me started, please. If you don't work together, your entire team will never surpass the genin rank."
Javen never usually spoke with malice, but he knew Kakashi wouldn't say to their faces that they were being stupid. Then, as if it was a sign to stop being an asshole and change the conversation, a box began to scoot towards them; it was poorly camouflaged as the floor. Javen stared at it with confusion. Naruto seemed to understand that too.
"There's no such thing as a perfect rock. It's so obvious."
Javen sighed as three kids, Konohamaru and his friends, as Javen recognized them, crawled out from underneath it. Now he had more kids to look out for. The kids looked at Sakura and grinned, "Hey boss is she your girlfriend?"
You could practically see the smoke come out of Sakura's ears as Naruto just played into the comment, "Geez, you kids are sharp!"
Sakura lost it and flung her fist into Naruto, which sent him flying. Javen hung his head. He was disappointed after a long lecture; they still acted like this.
As Sakura walked away, the kid dared to piss her off further. Javen sent a look to Sakura that read, 'Please just take a breath,' but Sakura had heard the kid call her an ugly wench, and she lost it, turning around in a fury. The kids booked it, one of them running into another person walking down the street. Two genin stood in front of the Konohamaru, who had been knocked to the ground. The genin were very obviously from the Sunagakure. The man picked up Konohamaru by the scarf and lifted him into the air, "That hurt you, punk."
That is when Javen stopped watching and took a step forward, "Unhand Lord Thirds Grandson, or I will put you down."
Naruto and the others glanced at each other and then at Javen.
"Javen, it was our bad. We can just leave." Sakura laughed, knowing full well that if Javen had abandoned her for the Hokage, the man and his family meant everything to Javen.
"Put me down?" The man spoke with a grin and Konohamaru down before taking a step toward Javen.
"Come on, stop. We don't want to get yelled at by, you know." The girl urged in protest.
The man moved to grab Javens shirt collar now, "I want to see what he can do. Let's play a bit. We have time before he joins us."
The man swung back to throw a punch, and Javen stood unfazed, "Unhand me."
"I hate smart alecks like you." He was about to swing before a rock flew toward him and hit his hand, forcing him to let go of Javen.
Sasuke was sitting in a tree next to the path, "I would listen to him. Things would get ugly. What do you think you're doing in someone else's village anyways?"
Javen nodded thanks to Sasuke before sighing and turning back to the man, "Unless you have a permit to be here for the exams, you should get lost."
"You punk." The man grabbed the thing from his back, and Javen stood firmly. He knew there was nothing this man could do to scare him.
"Wait, You aren't thinking of using Crow, are you?" The girl interjected, clearly seeming upset.
Javen felt a presence by the tree near Sasuke then, "Kakuro, stop that."
He turned to see a boy with red hair under the tree.
"Gaara- I'm really sorry. I-" Kankuro, the angry sand shinobi, stammered.
"Do you have permits for the Chunin Exams?" Javen turned to the boy named Gaara, knowing that the kid seemed like he would give an answer.
"Sorry about that. We do." Gaara nodded and joined his teammates on the ground.
"Here is mine." The girl held hers out, and Javen nodded.
"Thank you." Javen nodded.
"Wait, Chunin exams?" Naruto squinted his eyes in confusion.
"I apologize, Kakashi, and I didn't talk to you all earlier about this. Some Genin this year will be taking the exam to become chunin." Javen answered and then turned to the Sand Shinobi, "Good luck on your exams. I'll root for you."
It was a simple gesture to make peace, something Hiruzen always suggested he do after a fight.
As the sand shinobi turned to leave, Sasuke interjected, "Wait, you, what's your name?"
The girl turned with a blush, "Me?"
Sasuke shook his head, "No. The guy behind you."
"My name is Gaara of the desert. I have interest in the two of you as well." The redhead turned, and Javen held a hand to stop Sasuke from speaking.
"I want to know all your names before we give you ours." Javen smiled politely.
Gaara nodded, and the girl and boy aside him introduced themselves as Temari and Kankuro.
"Now, you two." Gaara gestured to Javen and Sasuke.
"The girl behind me is my sister, Sakura Haruno. The blonde next to her is Naruto Uzumaki." Javen introduced the two Gaara wasn't interested in first and then gestured to Sasuke, "His name is Sasuke Uchiha, and my name is Javen Haruno. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I personally will see you at the exams."
As the sand shinobi left, the kids turned to him.
"Do you think Kakashi Sensei will recommend us?" Sasuke questioned.
Javen nodded, "Most definitely but do not get your hopes up. Even if you do, you will be going against me."
The team gave him a confused look, so Javen clarified, "Lord Third must approve the recommendations. Even if Kakashi says you guys are qualified, the Hokage may not agree. As for me, I was demoted because the Hokage wanted me to participate in the event to proctor secretly."
Their faces fell. Javen smiled and spoke, hoping to raise their spirits, "You guys should be fine, and I will stay out of your way if I can. You guys are talented and quite unique. There is always next year, and then you all will crush your opponents. Now, let's all get some rest, shall we?"
They all parted ways except Sakura and Javen, who headed to the Haruno house.
"Javen, how do you feel about moving back home?" Sakura spoke up after a few minutes into the walk.
Ah, yes. Javen had been trying not to think about that stress. After the Land of Waves mission, he returned home to his parent's house with Sakura, and they had asked him to move back in temporarily. At the same time, he settled into life outside of the ANBU. He agreed on the pretense he would be allowed to return to his apartment at any time.
"I'm feeling a little nervous, but I am happy to at least teach you a bit more." Javen forced a smile, and Sakura nudged his side.
"It's all mom and dad have been talking about since yesterday. They made up the entire guest room and even went out of their way to ask the Hokage for your clothing sizes so they could make your closet." Sakura chuckled, knowing that their parents had gone a bit too far.
"They did what-" Javen looked at her wide-eyed, "Oh god."
When they walked through the door, their dad came running, "Our boy! We thought you had changed your mind!"
Javen was swamped in a giant bear hug.
"Honey, Javen's probably not used to hugs. Let him go."
Javen heard his mother's voice and smiled in agreement, his hands by his side awkwardly cause the statement was true; he didn't like hugs too much.
His parents looked the same as the last time he had seen them. His dad, Kizashi, had hair that was a more muted pink than either Javen's or Sakura's hair. It stuck up in spikes that made it look like he was trying to mimic a star, and his beard was cut to connect to his mustache and nothing else. Javen's mom, Mebuki, was not much better with style, her blonde hair almost a mullet but with all her bangs pushed to the center of her forehead.
Javen loved them, despite what they looked like and how long it had been.
"Hello, Kizashi. Hello Mebuki." Javen tried to be respectful, but his parents shook their heads.
"I know it's been a while, but call us Mom and Dad." Mebuki laughed and walked over to ruffle Javen's hair out of respect that her son didn't want a hug and pushed her husband back a little bit.
"Dinner will be ready soon. Your mom is cooking your childhood favorite, Yakiniku." Kizashi grinned ear to ear and patted Sakura's head, so she knew she was not forgotten in this conversation.
"It's been a while since I've had that and just about a decade since I've had it with you all. I last had it on my thirteenth birthday before I moved to live with Hiruzen. I was Sakura's age, actually." He laughed and grinned, "She was three."
Sakura looked at him in disbelief, "You're twenty-three? You have such a baby face."
Javen laughed, "I look eighteen or nineteen, don't I? That's why I can pass as a genin that's failed the exams a few times. I'm just three years younger than Kakashi."
"God, we were so young back then, weren't we, darling?" Mebuki sighed, "I was only 36 when Javen left the house. Now I feel so old."
The kids could only laugh and reassure Mebuki that she looked no older than 35, and it was just a lot of catching up for the rest of the night. Javen felt at home. He had a family that cared about him and a team. He no longer felt like just an ANBU. He felt like part of the team.