chapter 83

There was much to be nervous about, but at that moment Eiji was only excited. The looks on his friends' faces were enough to bring his mood up on their own. He was especially happy because he knew this would be an important day for Naruto too.

"Shikamaru Nara, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Eiji Satou," Hiruzen started, pride shining in his eyes. "It's a pleasure to tell you that you've all been promoted. Shikamaru, Sasuke, Naruto, you are, from this moment on, considered Chuunin of Konoha."

With those words, the old man handed all three of them the standard green Chuunin vest with the red twirl on the back. Each boy took it with a straight back and held their head up. Even the usually slumped Nara looked proud at that very second, a smirk tugging at his lips.

The blonde was now basically vibrating in place, almost unable to contain a cheer that Eiji knew was there, screaming to be let out. It was a small victory for him, really, that his brother was able to keep a semblance of calm for such a momentous occasion. It might have been a clearly forced and barely kept one, but it was calm nonetheless.

"Eiji," Hiruzen continued, clearly amused by Naruto's struggle against his boisterous nature. "I'm even more pleased to tell you that you'll be considered a Jounin of Konoha upon the completion of your recently assigned mission."

'Recently assigned, yeah, right,' Eiji thought, suppressing a snort.

"Eiji! You'll be Jounin!" Naruto exclaimed , evidently having lost his frail composure at the unexpected news. Well, unexpected for him. While Eiji hadn't known about that little tidbit, it was not quite a surprise either. After all, he was being sent to a mission that was clearly out of Chuunin rank. It was actually out of Jounin rank, but he supposed it was all to keep the secret of what his mission actually was.

"Ne, I'm leaving you behind, Naruto," Eiji commented with a slight smirk as he was shaken back and forth by the blonde. "At this rate, I'll reach my goal before you, self-proclaimed future Hokage."

"Self-procla- I'll so get you for that, Eiji," The blonde growled, still holding by the shoulders. "We are both getting closer though," He added, a soft smile spreading over his face. A rare sight, that one, significantly different from his usual wide grin. "We can do it."

"Of course we can," Eiji nodded, pulling Naruto into a quick, tight hug. "For now though," He continued, pushing the blonde away. This time he was the one doing the holding. "I think the old man has some stuff to talk with you."

"He does," Naruto mumbled, becoming distinctly nervous. It would be alright though, Eiji knew. Even if it wasn't the case, he'd be there for him and so would the group. For the moment though…

"We'll wait outside for you, yeah?" He told his brother, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze before letting go.

"Ok," Naruto nodded as he took a deep breath in.

Thus, Eiji, Shikamaru and Sasuke stepped out. The second looked as disinterested as ever, even if Satou could see a curious glint in his eye as he looked at their blond friend. The latter, for his part, was staring at the Chuunin vest he'd been given by the Hokage as if it was telling him something.

Whatever that was, it was something good, if the slowly spreading smile Eiji saw was any indication.

[}-o-{]

"So, what's this mission about?" Naruto asked and Eiji withheld a wince.

Apparently, the information Hiruzen had shared with the blonde hadn't been enough for him to forget the little tidbit the old man had revealed during the promotion. The boy had been considerably affected by his parents' identities, but he'd recovered remarkably fast. Or maybe he was just focusing on other stuff for the moment.

As it was, Eiji had to lament the fact that he couldn't keep his mission completely hidden from his friends.

They were having their last meal together before he had to leave towards Iwa. It was… horrible, really. How he wished he'd have some more time. It barely felt like he'd had any with them at all. 'I just want to be with my friends for a little longer,' Eiji thought as his heart twisted painfully inside his chest.

To think this could be the last time he saw them…

"Not much," He lied through his teeth. "I'm just gonna be traveling for a bit. There are reports of a group causing trouble and I'm being sent to deal with that before it becomes even more of a problem than it already is," He explained. Most of what he said was actually the truth, really, but the way he'd said it would make them assume he was talking about bandits or small time missing nin.

"Last time you said something like that, you killed someone for the first time and came back with those scars on your arm," Shikamaru pointed out, although he didn't seem to be the only one to make that observation, if everyone's faces were anything to go by. "So, how dangerous is this mission, really?" He asked and Eiji felt his resolve crumble slowly.

"Nothing like that this time, guys," He tried to reassure them with a wide smile. "I sw-"

"I know you are lying, Eiji," Naruto interrupted, his frown turning into a sad smile. "So, wanna run that by us again."

"I didn't lie though," He tried weakly.

"Do I have to ask again?" Shikamaru pressed.

"..." Eiji remained silent, his lips pursing into a fine line as he tried to think of a way to get them to stop going the way they were. In the end, he sighed and slumped in defeat. 'I just… can't…' Taking a deep breath in, he changed his mind. "It's gonna be a dangerous mission," He admitted resignedly. "Very dangerous… I… I don't know if I'll come back from it."

That drew dark expressions from everyone with a few tearing up. It hurt to even look at their faces. Nobody was surprised though. Either they had seen that coming or they'd read him entirely too well.

"Eiji, I…" Naruto started before seemingly choking up. He was the most affected by the revelation, which had been expected. It didn't make Eiji feel any better though.

"I'm proud of you all," He decided to go with. If this was to be the last time he could have his family gathered for a meal, he might as well say everything that he wanted before he chickened out. "I still remember when we met, when the group became the group. You were all little shits."

"You are one to talk," Shikamaru shot back, but there was no heat in his voice.

"But I couldn't be happier to have known all of you," He continued, his smile twitching as he felt his eyes start to sting. "I wish I could have met you all sooner."

All of a sudden, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see Sasuke sitting in front of him. He seemed to be the only one in the room remaining somewhat composed anymore. Eiji supposed that was to be expected.

"You won't die in this mission, Eiji," The Uchiha told him before squeezing harder on his shoulder. "You won't."

'So much for being composed, huh?' Eiji thought to himself as he let out a watery chuckle.

"Yeah, I'm being silly," He replied with a nod. "Let's continue eating, yeah?" He received smiles and nods in response, but there was not nearly as much life as there would have been at any other moment. "I love you all, guys."

As he looked down at his food, Eiji ignored the sobs he heard around the table. When the meal was done, he received the long, strong hugs as if they were a normal occurrence. He gave long goodbyes to everyone as if it were something he always did.

He also didn't bat an eye when Sasuke asked to sleep over.

Even less so when everyone decided to do the same at the last second.

'God, I love this bunch of weirdos,' He thought as he fell asleep, surrounded by the people he cared about the most in the world.

[}-o-{]

"You are gonna come back," Naruto had said when they started saying goodbye before he went on his mission. "After all, you gotta be the God of Shinobi, right? And you have to see me become Hokage."

"Come back," Sasuke had all but grunted at him, clearly uncertain of how to go about expressing himself. "We still have to get stronger together."

"You are the only one here that's not troublesome… most of the time," Were Shikamaru's words. "You can't leave me alone with this lot."

"You are gonna be fine, Eiji," Chouji told him while giving him a tight hug that expressed the rest of what he wanted.

"We'll all be waiting for you," Shino had said, his voice cracking. Eiji was sure he'd never heard his stoic friend sound like that.

"Thank you for everything you've done for us," Hinata said, almost maintaining her composure. "Now you have to worry about yourself. We'll be fine in the meantime."

"You can't leave me," Ino denied vehemently, her eyes tearing up. "Who's gonna lend us a hand with the shop if you do, right? I'm not gonna teach someone else," She tried to joke through persistent sobs.

"I'll keep training," Hanabi informed him, lips pursed. "So you better have new stuff to teach me when you come back."

"Thank you, for the second chance and for showing me how wrong I was," Sakura whispered in his ear as she held onto him. "Thank you for helping me improve."

"We gotta have a fight after this mission, yeah? I'm gonna make you put effort into it even if it's the last thing I do," Kiba challenged him with a forced grin.

[}-o-{]

"You'll see them again," Hachi told him, snapping Eiji from his recent memories. He couldn't keep the last moments with his friends out of his mind. Understandably so, he was sure, since he was going against Akatsuki, the big bad right after Kaguya and Madara. Some of them might even not be that hard but others… it was very possible that any of them would kill him.

He'd always thought he would be more afraid of going back to the Void than he'd be anything else. Why was he risking his life now then? Because he was equally as afraid of losing those he cared about. Akatsuki was a direct threat to all of them and thus, they needed to be dealt with.

He sighed, as he continued waiting.

There was silence in the room as Eiji stood in front of his Hokage with Yuki sitting next to him almost completely still. Hiruzen, for his part, sat at his desk, slowly taking drags from his pipe. Nobody was saying anything and there wasn't even much to see on either of their faces. All the same, it was like a conversation was passing between the two of them as they waited for Eiji's teammates to be gathered from their cells.

'Are you sure?' Hiruzen seemed to ask for the hundredth time. Understandable, what with his choice of company for the mission.

'I am,' Was the boy's response. After all, he knew well how… convincing Wit's End could be. It might not be the way he prefered to earn loyalty, but beggars can't be choosers. He had full support from both Hachi and Kage too, which did assuage some of his own worries.

"Good luck, Eiji," Was all the old man said in the end. The boy almost laughed at that. Those were the same words that Danzo had left in a note for him to find that morning. It was just… something he found funny, he supposed.

"Thank you, old man," He replied with a slight smile. "I hope you can retire again, give that hat to Naruto and just relax."

"That's the dream, Eiji," The Hokage chuckled. "It might not be me who gives him the hat though."

"Well, so long as my knucklehead of a brother's dream comes true, I guess it doesn't matter who does the honors. The rest still stands though," Eiji added.

"Here's hoping, Eiji, here's hoping."

Their little chat was interrupted as the door opened and the three 'prisoners' walked in. Differently from all the other times he'd seen them, they weren't wearing prisoner clothes but new ones. Fortunately not what they had been wearing previously, since that would have them recognized basically anywhere in Konoha. Tayuya looked especially pleased as she twirled her flute.

'Well, at least someone is happy to go on this mission,' Eiji thought with an inner grimace. Taking a deep breath in, he squared his shoulders.

"Well, they are here," Hiruzen said as he looked them over through narrowed eyes. Jirobo and Kabuto had already been standing somewhat at attention but the latter seemed to try and straighten up further under the scrutiny. It calmed Eiji's heart to see more proof that the medic nin was deadly afraid of him. He didn't like it, but he could appreciate the reassurance that it was.

Evidently, so did the Hokage because the man nodded, clearly pleased. Now, Tayuya's smirk wasn't quite as good to assuage worries, but she was like that, Eiji wasn't too worried. He was surprised when the village leader didn't point her out though, but then again, maybe he saw something that he didn't. It was nice to know that his choice was being backed up by the man.

"Eiji," Hiruzen started, earning his undivided attention. "Good luck," The man repeated. The boy certainly wouldn't be the one to point that out. He would need all the fortune he could get.

Eiji wouldn't lie, he was expecting the man to say something along the lines of 'if you need help, call'. That was just wishful thinking though. After all, if Konoha could afford to help him, it would. As it was, everyone was working overtime to show that they were fine after the Invasion and helping Kiri. He was the only one that could go on this mission, since he was the only one that Iwa wouldn't be outright antagonistic against.

As it was, he would probably have trouble because of his team, but he'd hopefully be able to talk his way through that. What did it say about the Stone that they were more likely to accept ex-agents of Orochimaru than they were Konoha nin? Then again, this was a World Shinobi War result, so maybe they had some reason for that. Especially since the other people Konoha could send to a mission like this were all people that had probably actually fought in that war.

'Huh, maybe that's another reason to have me on this? I wasn't alive back then, even less reason for hostility,' Eiji mused as he nodded towards the Hokage's words.

Soon, he found himself walking through the streets of Konoha towards the gates. Most people didn't recognize the three people walking behind him, but there were some shinobi that narrowed their eyes and stood ready for a fight. At least there were no commotions to deal with.

"Why are we stopping here?" Tayuya asked, crossing her arms and tilting her head. The reason for that was that he hadn't actually stepped through the gate when they reached it, instead choosing to lean against the wall, facing the village. "I thought we were leaving now."

"We are, we are just waiting for one more member for our little group of misfits," Eiji said, smiling slightly when he saw Yuki lay down next to him, her head close enough to rub against his shin if she moved the smallest bit. "You can play something, if you are already bored."

"Have you seen your eyes when you fight? You are the only misfit here," She growled at him and he raised an eyebrow at her. The other two remained silent as they just waited, seemingly deciding to do so simply standing off to the side.

"Says the one that can transform into a monster girl through a Cursed Mark," He shot back, making her whole face twitch. "Besides, being normal is boring," Eiji added with a slight smirk as he thought of his group of friends. He was pretty sure none of them could qualify as ordinary.

"Who are we even waiting for?" Tayuya pressed. Evidently, she wasn't fond of the idea of staying inside Konoha. Understandable, really, since she probably also noticed how the shinobi were watching the group and her.

"Shouldn't take too long," Eiji answered with a shrug, earning a huff from the girl before she plopped down on the ground and brought her flute to her mouth. It was the kind of action that the boy didn't think could be done aggressively, but Tayuya proved him wrong on that account. She was like that, he'd learned. After all, he also couldn't understand how she could play a calming song that was also unnerving.

Those were her Genjutsu songs though, so it made some sense that they were like that, he supposed. At that moment though, despite her evident annoyance, the song she started playing was beautiful, if he was honest. It eased his nerves for the mission even. 'I'll have to do something nice for her just for that,' He mused as he leaned his head against the wall and looked up at the sky.

"Maybe you could draw something in the meantime?" Kage suggested in his head. "Would help you relax a little more."

"That's actually a good idea," Eiji replied as he sat down on the ground too. He saw Jirobo and Kabuto do the same where they stood. 'Had they been standing because I was?' He thought curiously as he pulled out a notebook and a pencil from a storage seal.

He settled for making a drawing of the group at the gates. Tayuya sat by herself playing her flute. Jirobo and Kabuto were sitting opposite to each other but not actually talking. Himself against the outer wall with Yuki by his side. A hint of the gates showed on the corner of the page. And finally…

"Am I late?" A voice casually asked and he looked up to see the last confirmed member of the team. She wore a slight smirk, apparently not at all worried that she'd made them wait. Eiji didn't have a problem with that. He was just glad to have someone else that wasn't an outright enemy, even if she wasn't what he'd call a friend.

"Not by much," He replied with a shrug as he stored his things again and stood up. "Thanks again for joining us, Temari."

"Who's the bimbo?" Tayuya not so subtly asked and Eiji could only sigh when he saw the Suna nin eyebrow twitch and her face turn redder by the second. 'Why didn't I see that coming?'

"Who are you, you little-?"

"Oh-kay," Eiji all but shouted while clapping his hands. "Introductions are in order," He continued, thoroughly ignoring the glares both women were giving him and each other. 'Just perfect,' He thought to himself. "This is Temari, sister of the future Kazekage," He said, signaling the latest arrival.

The added information barely had Tayuya blinking, and Eiji sighed, already knowing what was coming.

"So, she's a bimbo with nepotism privileges?" Tayuya asked 'innocently'.

"She's a good Kunoichi with, more importantly, an even better head on her shoulders. Since I don't trust any of you three with literally anything that isn't overseen by myself, she's the second-in-command for this mission," Eiji explained bluntly, determinedly not looking at the preening Sand ninja.

"Tch, fine then," Tayuya accepted with a huff and he almost took that as a victory. If only she hadn't decided to add a little piece at the end though "I still think she's still a bimbo though."

"Anyway," He pressed on, knowing better than to let the blonde respond to the insult. "This is Tayuya. Don't let her brattiness fool you-"

"Excuse you?!"

"She's an accomplished Genjutsu specialist. She can also use summons along with her techniques to fight physically if she needs to," Eiji explained, signaling to the redhead that didn't seem able to decide if she was offended or flattered. "Jirobo, Taijutsu specialist with a technique that allows him to absorb chakra from his opponents on contact. He also has a decent repertoire of Earth Release jutsu."

Through the explanation, Temari narrowed her eyes, visibly taking in the information. 'Thank God she decided to come,' Eiji thought to himself. He'd had his doubts about involving the Sand siblings in his mission, but not only did they already know about Akatsuki because of Gaara being groomed to be Kazekage, their village also needed to look good with the other Nations after the Invasion fiasco. Thus, he'd presented an option for them.

Eiji would have preferred to leave Temari with Gaara. First because she was the smartest of the three and the Jinchuriki would need that by his side. Second, because she was the one that got along with the boy the best. However, Kankuro just wouldn't work well with him and he needed as good a team as he could get.

"Then we have Kabuto Yakushi," Eiji continued then. "He's an accomplished medic ninja, a capable fighter and an even better spy," He explained, facing the clearly nervous man. Temari raised an eyebrow, probably wondering how the frightened shinobi could be a good spy. "He's also completely terrified of me," He added as an afterthought.

"Hm," She hummed in understanding, although she looked curious for a more detailed explanation of that last part.

"This bundle of cuteness is Yuki," He started closing off, placing his hand over the dog's head. "She's here for tracking duties, but she can hold her ground against average fighters… not that I expect we'll face many of those," He admitted with a grimace. "And then there's me, leader of the merry band of misfits you are looking at."

Everyone looked at him weirdly at the very obviously lackluster introduction of himself.

He sighed.

"I'm skilled in Taijutsu, Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu, mainly through Lightning Release," He started. "I wield Nuibari and I'm fond of using ninja wire in whatever situation I can get away with it. I also like drawing in my free time," He added with a beaming smile.

"You are such a weirdo," Tayuya said, shaking her head.

"Thanks," He nodded. "Anyway, from here, we'll be moving straight to Iwa. If we come across any of their ninja, let me do the talking first. If you see a person with a black cloak with red cloud designs on them, it's very likely that they are the people we are to fight against. Don't fight any of them without me nearby. If you absolutely have to deal with them, buy yourself time and try to get us to help. Is that clear?"

All of them nodded and Eiji was glad that Tayuya didn't make a comment of any kind. 'Maybe this will actually work,' He thought, relieved. He'd started having doubts about that the more time he spent with the redhead.

"Stranger things have happened," Kage said in his mind.

Then, he heard Tsuchigumo give a series of barks. If not for his inherent understanding of her, Eiji would have been supremely confused. Alas, he knew exactly what she was doing.

"Is she… mimicking you doing an introduction?" Hachi hazarded a guess.

"She's making an introduction for herself," Eiji explained to them and then there was a moment of silence.

"A Chakra Beast has no business being adorable," Kage grumbled.

"Indeed," Both Eiji and Hachi agreed.

"Ok then," The boy said out loud before his silence turned awkward. "Let's get started. It's a long way to Iwa from here," He said, taking a deep breath in.

The mission was officially started just like that.