AN: One of the many false starts of chapter 149.

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The new year kicked off with another ANBU mission to liven things up.

It was lucky we held the meeting when we did because Red Team was summoned to the Hokage's office for a mission — and it would have been awkward to miss a meeting that we'd scheduled ourselves.

"There's a trade summit happening in Land of Tea," Tsuande said, hands clasped easily on her desk. "A minor one, mostly involving countries and corporations with which Konoha has, historically, had a good relationship. Our negotiators have been involved in an official capacity, but with the state of affairs being what they are, they're finding it … difficult to convince all parties involved that such relationships should be continued."

Translation: war made everyone goddamn nervous.

But it wasn't like an ANBU team was going to change that. Making people less nervous wasn't exactly our job description. Unless by 'less nervous' you meant 'dead'.

"Therefore," Tsunade continued, "it would be wise for the summit to be postponed to allow them more time to conduct their negotiations."

Ah, yes. That was where Red Team came in.

"Obviously we cannot be seen to be influencing events," the Hokage said. "And apart from our own negotiators, there are likely to be ninja present as bodyguards for the officials attending the events. Additionally, the Land of Tea is an ally of ours and it would be poor form on our part to repay that with destruction or put them in disfavour with other parties involved."

Our last mission to Land of Tea had been to help put the Wasabi family into power, so yeah, it would be very bad planning on our part to undermine that now. Also, Jirouchou and Tsunade were buddies from way back.

"Understood, Hokage-sama," Hawk-taicho said.

She passed him a thick scroll, which turned out to have a lot of background information on who was expected to be at the summit. So we returned to ANBU HQ and booked out a briefing room to go over it all.

"Was it just me," Towa asked, once we were there, the door had been firmly shut and the security seals activated, "or did Hokage-sama sound like she was asking us to cause another natural disaster?"

"Well," Komachi said. "That would be a way to delay the meeting without being overly suspicious."

She still sounded, you know, faintly disbelieving but with an edge of calculation that meant this was actually a legitimate tactic now.

My bad.

I folded my hands under my chin, bumping a little awkwardly on my mask. "If the summit is in a populated area an earthquake might not be a good idea," I said quietly. "Too much collateral damage."

Hawk-taicho shrugged one shoulder. "Let's actually read the briefing material first," he said dryly. "Before we start deciding on methods of destruction."

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AN: Part of the reason I wanted to write an ANBU arc for these characters is, that for Shikako and Sasuke… ANBU is comparatively easier and more lighthearted than their regular lives. They're confident, they're on top of their game, they know what they're doing – they're having an excellent time.

Which, you know, is the polar opposite of how ANBU arcs usually go.