He rolled his eyes dramatically and crossed his arms.

"But why them? I mean – "

"It's more of a gesture of goodwill, and besides, the drug ring appears to be using a route running through their nation, too. With that said, pick a shinobi to accompany you and form up the four-man team."

"Four people? Why can't we just do three Leaf? THEY'RE SO WEIRD –" More huffing.

"Naruto, please." The fact that Kakashi's face was 75% covered did nothing to hide his level of disinterest in Naruto's childish outbursts. Three years had passed since the Fourth Ninja War, and though everyone had matured, Naruto still had his moments. Or maybe Kakashi was just getting old. Or maybe everyone was restless in this time of unprecedented peace. Either way, the village needed income, and there was a lot of money offered for the shinobi that could break up a particularly nasty opiate ring that had begun to expand across nations.

"Kakashi-sensei, do we at least know anything about the two Grass shinobi?" The older man sighed again, running a hand through his spiky grey hair.

"You really don't put much faith in me, do you? I know exactly who they are, where they're from and what they're good at." Naruto stared at his sensei expectantly. Kakashi smiled. "You'll find out soon enough!" The blonde's eyes narrowed to slits.

"You may be Hokage, but I still know that you're a pervy old man!" Silence from the White Fang's son. "Kakashi-sensei, do you save that look just for me?"

"I do, Naruto. I do."

It was late in the afternoon when the two Grass shinobi set foot in Konoha. They marveled at the massive, ancient gates while the door guards checked their names against their lists. The taller of the two had chocolate brown hair that was close-cropped on the sides, but flopping over the forehead protector marked with the symbol for the allied shinobi. The man was lean and muscled, wearing loose black combat pants and a khaki, long-sleeved shirt under his slate grey vest. A bright green cloak hung off of his shoulders, accentuating his kind emerald eyes. He absentmindedly played with a kunai on his belt while sightseeing. It was obvious that he was completely taken aback by the village; the place he and his travel partner had come from was comparatively small and poor. Konoha was a warm, bustling metropolis of a village compared to the Hidden Grass. The pair passed shop after shop filled with colourful goods and amazing smells. Leaf shinobi nodded in greeting at them as they passed. His eyes met his teammate's.

"This place is pretty nice, isn't it?" He was trying to start small talk, but his companion was less than pleasant when hungry. In fact, she was the exact opposite of pleasant. Having run out of snacks three-quarters of the way into the journey, the woman nicknamed Soba was about ready to tear apart the village in search of something, anything, to eat. She only grunted in response to Dai's question.

"Why can't we eat before meeting Hokage-sama? Why? Who came up with this plan?" She huffed along in her tight, black pants, the sash holding her patterned wrap top on getting in the way of her right hand. A green cloak emblazoned with the zigzag Grass symbol fluttered behind her, making her katanas clatter.

"It's not really a plan so much as common courtesy, Captain." Dai began. He only referred to Soba as Captain when she was being ornery and needed to be reminded of her adult responsibilities; she wasn't much for titles, otherwise. That, and the two were twin siblings, so it just felt strange.

"I'll Captain you if we don't get something to eat, and soon."

Making the executive decision to avoid starting a war with the Leaf over his darling sister's stomach contents (or lack thereof), Dai steered the rogue Soba into the nearest ramen shop. She didn't pay any attention to where he was leading her; she just smelled food. The two sat down at the only two available seats along the bar and ordered. Dai could have sworn the woman was growling, hunched over the eating surface like a feral animal, waiting for her bowl. Her head popped up when she overheard the two people sitting down the row talking.

"For some reason, we're not allowed to take on this stupid mission alone! They're sending some Grass shinobi over and we have to deal with even more people – they're probably just going to complicate everything further!" A tall, brown-haired shinobi with red fang-like tattoos on his cheeks whined, talking more to his fluffy white dog than his blonde companion. Soba only saw the back of the blonde's head, but he sounded like he was speaking with his mouth completely full. Despite this, he still managed to achieve a stunning volume with his voice.

"I mknow! I mean, Ah'm all fow collaborafion, but dif ith tho fimple of a miffion…"

Dai put a hand on Soba's shoulder because he saw her tense up and bristle. There had been an increased amount of cross-village collaboration to keep relations strong; most shinobi, however, agreed that sometimes it really was easier to keep it within one village. The angry woman agreed with what they were saying, deep down, but the hunger monster had taken over the rational part of her brain in favour of rage.

"What a blockhead. I'll show him 'complicating things,' the foo-" Soba was halfway into her sentence when the ramen bowl was placed in front of her. Her brother sighed, thankful the chef's timing had saved the day. Dai's bowl was placed in front of him soon after, and he thanked the chef in both of their names.

…and Soba was off to the races. Though Dai, in all fairness, ate pretty quickly, it never ceased to amaze him how the woman turned into a human vacuum. Even the fang-faced whiner, called Kiba by the loud blonde, was watching her with great curiosity. He nudged the blonde, who turned his head. Dai looked up at that moment and recognized Uzumaki Naruto, who, thankfully, didn't see him gape at all.

"It's him!" Dai muttered to no one in particular. Naruto didn't hear him; he had noodles hanging from his mouth and was completely distracted by Soba's really, really unladylike eating habits. Slurping up the last of her ramen, the aggressive eater stood, oblivious to the staring. She adjusted the utility belt on her hips, smoothed her cloak and gestured to her brother. She paid for Dai's and her ramen, scooped up her small travel pack and walked out. Naruto and Kiba only just caught sight of the forehead protector wrapped around the large, tightly bound bun on top of her head before she disappeared into the street. Dai left only moments after.

"Huh, they're allied. Wonder what village they're from!" Kiba mused to his friend, neither of them putting two and two together.

Soba's earlier, nearly feral, posture then turned into elegance and poise, her back tall and straight, angled features brought into contrast by the shadows cast in twilight. With a full stomach, she was all business, and her face reflected her change in attitude. She and Dai set off to their temporary lodgings with quick, long strides. They moved nearly as one, the twins, and from the back, they almost looked like each other's shadow.

The two shinobi made their way to their meeting. Being new in town, they had misread their directions, taken a few wrong turns from the apartment where they were staying, and showed up later than anticipated. Later according to Soba, anyway. They were still 10 minutes early. Hokage-sama's aide walked the two up to his office, and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" The aide smiled at the two of them and opened the door, gesturing for them to enter. They walked into the room seeing the two backs of their new teammates, one tall, furry, white dog and Rokudaime Hokage's smiling face peeking out from between them. He stood by his broad desk, leaning casually on it.

"I trust you made it without too much trouble, Yukiko, Dai." The two bowed in greeting to Kakashi and nodded at their new teammates.

"We did, thank you, Hokage-sama." Three faces turned in sync to face them.

"These are your new teammates! This is Inuzuka Kiba, and Akamaru, and you may already know Uzumaki Naruto." All bowed. Soba took a good look at Naruto, clearly impressed, but trying to hide it. He was an incredibly strong shinobi and really, the world as they know it wouldn't have been the same without him. It made her a little uneasy, being on the same team.

"If it's alright, I go by Soba; I don't respond to Yukiko much anymore." Soba bowed to Kakashi and stepped in line with the other shinobi. She stood calmly, her face as blank as a canvas. Having been in a hunger rage, she didn't make the connection that the two men standing next to her had been in the ramen shop earlier. Dai, on the other hand, had noticed, as he had not been a rabid animal, and so had the two men. Naruto stared at her like she was in a zoo; so much so that Kiba had to nudge him. Kakashi already felt that this mix of personalities could be…interesting.

"Alright!" Kakashi began, "Our main mission objective is to halt a notorious opium-smuggling ring. I know you all have heard of, or maybe been involved in the preliminary intelligence gathering for this ring. The reason why we have shinobi from two villages is because this ring affects two lands. The rulers felt that it would be better if each village provided its own expertise in the matter and territory and I agree. The goal is to take down the kingpin, who we suspect is operating within Fire territory, and the main supplier, which is near the Grass village. Once these three are taken down, it will likely take some time for the ring to reorganize and then we will send in reinforcements to hopefully disperse the entire operation. We know there are some rogue shinobi acting as security, so be careful. We don't yet know what they're capable of. You will be splitting into pairs for a large portion of the mission," Teammates from the same village looked at each other and nodded, "but your partners will be from a different village. I'm appointing Yu, uh, sorry, Soba as your team captain, and I will let her divide the team as she sees fit."

"UM, Hokage-sama, wouldn't it make sense for Naruto to be team captain as he…well, it's Naruto!" Kiba protested. Dai mentally rolled his eyes in response, hoping that this is not what he would be like the whole time.

"If he hadn't complained so much about the mission, then maybe he would have been." After going over more mission details, Kakashi decided everyone needed a break. "Now. You're all dismissed! You can begin tomorrow, so get some rest tonight and make sure you're well-acquainted before you head out!" He stood and waited for the four, plus one canine, to vacate his large office. The moment all was quiet, the Hokage summoned Pakkun, sighed and returned to his paperwork.

"I have no new book to read and no goofy genin and chunin to train, Pakkun. They don't need me anymore! It's just papers. Papers all day long." He let his head hit the desk with a soft thud. Pakkun jumped up on the table beside him.

"You could retire early." Pakkun suggested, knowing full well why Kakashi hadn't resigned yet.

"No, no, this is the right thing to do. This is a good time in my life. There will be time for chess and reading later…" The pug barked his assent.