The Surprise Mission

'Of all the people we could have run into…' moaned Inner Sakura. 'Why did it have to be her!?'

With the golden statue restored to its rightful owner and with the band of thieves sent to jail, Team Kakashi's mission had ended with a much-needed victory. And with nothing else keeping them in the Land of Honey, they had returned to the Land of Fire via the Land of Rain without any incident.

"What happened to you, Top-Heavy?" Ino sniggered. "Let me guess— you were trying to steal a march on me with Sasuke, but you had a little… accident?"

Unfortunately for Sakura, on the day the chakra adhesive binding Naruto's and Sasuke's hands to her chest was supposed to dissolve on its own, they had run into Team Asuma at one of the Land of Fire's western border outposts— something about radioing Konoha about their safe return from a foreign land.

It was standard practice, apparently.

"Who are you calling an accident," Naruto grumbled, shifting uncomfortably from one leg to the other to hide the protrusion in his pants. "Why does Sasuke get a free pass, but I'm the one who gets to like a perv? This isn't fair, ya know…"

Ignoring Ino, who had begun fussing over Sasuke, Sakura glanced inquisitively over Chōji's shoulder. Quite the retinue had accompanied Team Asuma to the Land of Fire's border— a delegation of important-looking ministerial types, from the looks of it.

They were all standing around some palanquins, deep in conversation with each other. Their small group was mostly composed of Land of Fire officials, but Sakura recognized two among their number— Utatane Koharu, and… Might Guy, who kept pacing around nervously in circles.

'I wonder what's going on?' said Inner Sakura curiously.

She looked in Kakashi's direction— he was standing under the border outpost's awning, next to Asuma and Shikamaru. They were talking about something, but Sakura hadn't been able to overhear anything.

"Sakura," said Kakashi, beckoning to her upon noticing her gaze. "Come over here for a second."

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other— with all three of them being stuck together, they had no choice but to awkwardly shuffle over to Kakashi's side as one.

"This is where we part ways," Kakashi calmly announced. "I'll be joining the village's delegation to the Hidden Sand, as additional protection."

"The Sand is restoring their military alliance with the Leaf?" asked Sasuke, to which Kakashi nodded.

"That's strange," said Sakura, raising an eyebrow. "They were content with their watch-and-see attitude, but as far as I know, nothing major's changed since the Crush— unless something happened while we were gone. Why is the alliance back on, now of all times?"

'What in the world is Gaara thinking?' said Inner Sakura. 'I hope he's given up on marrying us, because that's never happening!'

…

Each of the five major shinobi villages decided on their leader in a different manner:

For the Leaf, the Hokage chain of succession was more-or-less a popularity contest.

The Senju brothers had founded Konoha alongside Madara, but their popularity had won them the first and second Hokage titles. However, from then on, the future Hokage would end up always being chosen from one of the previous Hokage's disciples:

The Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen had been Senju Tobirama's disciple (until he was kicked out of office and forced to abdicate in shame, before retaking the throne when the Fourth died). The Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato had been Jiraiya's disciple (Jiraiya himself having been the Third's disciple). And finally, the Fifth Hokage Senju Tsunade had also been the Third's disciple.

(And if one were to look a bit into the future, the Sixth Hokage Hatake Kakashi had also been the Fourth's disciple, and the Seventh Hokage Uzumaki Naruto had been groomed for the position by Kakashi, Tsunade and Jiraiya.)

In any case, only the Leaf's Jōnin assembly had the right to vote on their next leader, making the Leaf Village less of a dictatorship and more of an Ancient Greek-style democracy— and lastly, the Land of Fire's Daimyō also had to ratify the Jōnin's chosen Hokage.

For the Sand, the Kazekage electoral process was much simpler— the title was hereditary.

Following the Fourth's death, the Fifth Kazekage was to be Gaara, though he was still being trained for the position. Since he was the strongest among his siblings, and since his mental state had stabilized ever since Sakura had hit him with her Genjutsu (which had made him realize that his mother hadn't hated him after all), the Sand's Council of Elders had ended up picking him.

…

"I was wondering the same thing, but we still need this alliance with the Sand, no matter what hidden motives they might be harbouring," said Shikamaru, who was behaving unusually seriously. "The Hidden Cloud is on the warpath, and we're hearing nothing but disturbing rumours about the Hidden Mist… from what little information escapes the Land of Water."

As usual, the Third Tsuchikage, who had lived his entire life sitting on the fence, was adopting a wait-and-see approach to the mounting tensions between the other Five Great Shinobi Villages.

If there was a war and benefits to be had, The Hidden Rock would immediately join the winning side. And while they were at it, just to muddy the waters and play both sides, they would perhaps plunder the Land of Lightning while the Hidden Cloud's collective backs were turned, whether they were winning or not…

Between the Hidden Rock and the Hidden Cloud, it was hard to tell which was the most shameless!

"At any rate, I'm told there's an urgent telegram waiting for you," said Kakashi, pointing to the border outpost behind him with his thumb, "Memorize its contents, and then burn it— oh, and remember to send a response."

'A telegram?' said Inner Sakura. 'Seriously? How antiquated…'

"It looks like we're getting ready to leave," said Kakashi, eyeing the nobles, officials and diplomats entering their palanquins. "Good luck, you three— remember to take care of each other."

Having said his goodbyes, Kakashi went to rejoin the delegation, accompanied by Asuma and Shikamaru. And having received their instructions, the three members of Team 7 crammed themselves through the outpost's door, and they headed towards the counter.

"There should be a telegram for us," said Sakura, sliding her shinobi card across the counter. "Registration Number 012601."

The clerk manning the counter almost did a double-take upon seeing the young kunoichi being groped by her two teammates, but with an enormous effort of will, he managed to remain professional. After giving it a good look, he handed back Sakura's registration card, along with a slip of paper, which read:

POST OFFICE

Land of Fire Telegram

Send to all western outposts

Eyes only: Hatake Kakashi Jōnin, Haruno Sakura Chūnin

Urgent STOP Hurry to Katabami Village, Land of Rivers STOP Fūma Tenten, Rock Lee MIA STOP Prioritise Search and Rescue STOP If safe to proceed, eliminate Kurosuki crime family and Kurosuki Raiga of Seven Mist Swordsmen STOP

-Fifth Hokage, Senju Tsunade

Plop!

Without warning, the blue chakra adhesive on Sakura's chest fell apart, making a mess on the floor.

"Ah, we're finally free…!" exclaimed Naruto, rubbing his wrists. "…shit."

"About time," said Sasuke, before clicking his tongue. "…tch."

They could still feel a phantom sensation of softness on their palms, but it wasn't as good as the original!