Insomnia

-8-

* The next day *

"I'm sure you guys are wondering why I called you here." Lady Tsunade smirked. "I'm assigning you two, Sai, and Kakashi to a mission. This will be Kakashi's final mission before taking over for me as Hokage. All of team 7 would be reunited for this mission if I didn't send Sakura out on something else yesterday. So it's a blend of team 7 and team Yamato"

"How nostalgic. Me and my boys get to go out on one final mission." Kakashi smirked under his mask, his eyes never leaving the book in his hands.

"Lets make it a memorable one!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Wonderful. You guys are to protect the daimyō on his journey back home." Tsunade sighed. "He's been in the village secretly for the past few days to discuss some military things and to meet Kakashi before Kakashi becomes the next Hokage. Now that all the formalities are done he needs to head back to the capitol. He had a few more things to discuss with Kakashi on the journey so I figured it would be great for memories sake." Tsunade's smile quickly faded as she seriously added, "Regardless of the nostalgia, this is a very serious mission. Do whatever the daimyō wants and asks of you, but his protection comes first."

Sai asked, "If you don't mind me asking, where is his usual protection team?"

Tsunade sighed as she rubbed her temples. "He decided to come here alone under a disguise. So when his protection team wasn't looking he put on the disguise and ditched them. Strategically, it's pretty good. No one would expect the fire daimyō to travel alone. However, it's not smart for him to travel by himself since he can be so easily swayed. Anyway, his protection team will relieve you at the gate of the captiol. You may explore if you desire, there's no rush back. I will bring the daimyō in here and then he's your responsibility until the capitol gate." Lady Tsunade left, quickly returning with the daimyō in tow. "Happy travels."

She dumped the daimyō onto the men and quickly left the room. It was evident she was done dealing with the daimyō.

"Shall we be on our way my Lord?" Kakashi said in his best customer service voice.

"Kakashi Hatake, I've been waiting to discuss more things with you." The daimyō smiled. He happily followed Kakashi out the building.

"What a weird guy." Sai said just loud enough for Sasuke and Naruto to hear. The three boys giggled as they followed behind.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai made a distant triangular formation around Kakashi and the daimyō as they traveled. They were far enough that Kakashi and the disguised daimyō looked like they were traveling alone, but close enough to come to Kakashi's aid in the event there was a sudden attack.

The journey was long, made longer by the slow daimyō. The man could barely walk and talk. They stopped at a town and the daimyō paid for a horse to ride. The journey was faster then, since he could ride and talk as Kakashi kept up.

At night, Naruto had to turn to strictly melatonin to deal with his insomnia since he and Sasuke couldn't sleep together. Night watch was divided equally amongst the ninja so that there were 4 shifts.

After 11 days and nights, the group arrived at the captiol. The Daimyō's personal protection took over, as promised, at the gate. However, there were still something else he had to say to Kakashi. The two of them went back to the daimyō's house while the Sai, Sasuke, and Naruto were able to explore.

They all went to the bathhouse to relax a bit before they had to leave. There was a men's side, a divider, and a women's side. The three boys wrapped towels around their waist and sunk into the warm, aromatic water.

"It took longer than it should have to get here." Sai sighed.

"The daimyō sure is chatty and easily distracted." Sasuke added before sinking into the warm water.