The Briefing

Mizuki heard the third member of their team before he could see him.

As could roughly half of the village.

"YOSHI! LET THE POWER OF YOUTH EXPLODE! IF I DO NOT MAKE IT TO THE MISSION CENTER WITHIN THE NEXT THIRTY SECONDS, I WILL WALK N MY HANDS AROUND THE VILLAGE FIVE TIMES!"

Neko: "We certainly have a . . . unique teammate."

Mizuki: "That's one way of putting it"

"YES! I MADE IT IN FIFTY-SEVEN SECONDS! A NEW PERSONAL RECORD! BEHOLD MY INCREDIBLE POWER OF YOUTH!"

Neko: "How is it that you seem completely unaffected by it though?"

Mizuki: "You just need to give it a while, you get used to it after hearing it enough"

"AH YES! MIZUKI! MY MOST USEFUL RIVAL! GOOD TO SEE YOU! ARE YOU TO BE MY TEAMMATE FOR THIS MISSION?"

Looking across from him, Mizuki saw the legend himself, Konoha's Green Beast, and the greatest Taijutsu specialist the shinobi world would ever see: Might "The Power of Youth" Guy.

Mizuki: "It's nice to see you as well Guy, I would ask if life has been treating you well, but considering that we are in the middle of a world war, that would just be pointless."

Guy: Indeed it would, speaking of which, how is your injury? I heard that you were quite severely injured when you arrived at the Konoha hospital"

Mizuki: "Fine now. Left a nasty scar though."

Neko: "And? Was my prediction about the scar right? Did the girls start swarming?"

Guy: "Girls? Swarming? Why would Mizuki want that? He has Anko after all"

Neko: "Oh? Anko? Tell me, who is this Anko?"

Guy: "She is Mizuki's Girlfrie-"

Mizuki: "Anyways, I don't believe the two of you have introduced yourselves!"

Guy: "Nice Dodge!"

Neko: "Real subtle"

Mizuki: "Shut up. Anyways, Our leader for this mission is Neko Inuzuka"

Guy: "Neko Inzuzuka?"

Guy: "Why is a clan known for ninja dogs have a member whos name literally means cat-"

Mizuki: "I know right!?"

Neko: "God damnit dad, Every Fucking time."

However, the conversation between the team was cut short by the sound of the door behind them unlocking, and a team of chunin walking out, having received their mission.

Hiruzen: "Next Please"

Neko: "That is our queue to head in."

And so, the group of three entered the Hokage's office, slightly anxious as to what the mission they would be assigned.

. . . . .

The beginning of the war had not been doing Hiruzen any favors.

His formerly brown hair, which only contained a few speckles of white had quickly changed, as the stress had caused for its color to change so that now around half of it was white.

Additionally, now several more and deeper wrinkles adorned his face, clearly showing how the stress of the war was consuming him.

And if that was not bad enough, now the remaining two great nations were looking on at the conflict like vultures circling over dying prey.

Any signs of weakness would result in a swift and painful end to Konoha.

He was just lucky that they hadn't been done in yet.

Hiruzen: "Come in"

Neko: "Yes. Lord Hokage. What will our assigned mission be?"

Hiruzen: "Blunt as always, huh Neko?"

Neko nervously nodded.

Hiruzen: "Anyways, the mission you will be assigned is one belonging to the A-Rank"

Hearing this, the ears of all three team members perched up.

After all, although both Mizuki and Neko had been on A-Rank missions, the latter was in an emergency and the former was due to him being a relatively high ranking shinobi.

Despite what one may think due to watching Naruto's shenanigans, it was not normal for a twelve-year-old genin to be thrown into an A-Rank Mission.

Nobody expected to be sent on such a high ranking mission with two chunin, regardless of how qualified they were.

Jobs of that level were allocated to jonin exclusively, with the only exception being for extraordinary situations.

Hiruzen: "All of our jonin are already busy battling across Kusagakure against Iwa, we could not spare any extra jonin to complete this mission"'

Hiruzen: "As of choosing you three specifically, Neko and Mizuki already have experienced the first battle of the war for themselves, with Guy being the most competent third member I could find in a limited amount of time."

Swiftly moving on, Neko quickly asked the question which he came to get answered.

Neko: "What will the mission entail"

Hiruzen: "As you know, Kumo and Iwa have found an alliance to destroy us. However, some espionage has revealed that this alliance is not as solid as it may originally seem."

Hearing this, All three shinobi's ears perked up.

After all, what Hiruzen was talking about had the potential to shift the direction of the war.

Hiruzen: "Our espionage has revealed that Iwa has been in talks with Kiri behind the scenes about double backing on their deal with Kumo. They don't trust them."

Hiruzen: "Your mission will be to sabotage key areas of the Kumo supply chain in an effort to implicate Kiri and create a messy three-way conflict between the nations."

Hiruzen: "You will be infiltrating Kumogakure itself in order to complete this task, we have fake identities prepared for you. This mission should only last for a couple of months, as by the time you have finished your mission, we will have established more permanent and dedicated spies."

Hiruzen: "The specifics of each mission when you arrive will be given to you on a case by case basis to prevent the reveal of critical information in the event you get captured."

Guy: "With the other four nations already involved, what will Suna do?"

Hiruzen: "Good Question. Truth be told, we do not know yet. Suna is a bit of a wild card here. They have severe grudges with both us and Kumo, so it can swing either way, although I cannot say much more than that for obvious reasons."

Hiruzen: "Anything Else?"

Mizuki: "When do we leave?"

Hiruzen: "In a couple of hours. Meet at the main gate. After you finish packing, give your goodbyes to whoever is left in the village and grab a bite to eat at your favorite spot. You may be gone for a long time."