When they entered the Shiki Ryuu tea house branch, what greeted them was a...tea house.

Other than selling information, it was an ordinary tea-house.

The reason was simple if even common people came to buy dangerous intel, chaos would erupt.

But more importantly, they wouldn't be able to handle that many requests at once!

"Welcome dear gues-" - before the employee could finish his greeting, Eiji took a badge out and showed it.

"Y-you are the Shiki Ryuu's master? I-I'M SORRY!!" - while saying that with a scared voice, the employee bowed in an apologetic manner.

"Why are you sorry? Did you do anything wrong?"

"N-no it's just..."

"Sigh, just guide us to a VIP room."

"C-certainly..."

'Since no one knows my real identity except for Sasuke Ukon and Chisato, that kind of reaction is to be expected...but aren't they way too scared?'

He didn't show his identity, since he didn't want to risk that people find out that he was the former Hokage.

The other reason was, that he or a shadow-clone of his could personally interview job-applicants, which enabled him to give them a "congratulation present" if they were to pass the interview.

This "present" was nothing other than a  transformed small snake, stay with them as long as they are employed.

Those snakes were the main security tool: they would unnoticingly observe the actions and chakra of their targets, making it able to spot when someone is under a Genjutsu.

Furthermore, since they feed upon their target's chakra, they also wouldn't disappear after some time - though the amount isn't enough to cause the employees any harm.

After being guided to the VIP room, Eiji ordered some time while Ukon just leaned onto the room's wall and fell asleep.

'This guy probably only sleeps cause he is bored and not tired...speaking of which, until the Konoha forces travel here, it might take some time...' - lost in thought, Eiji drank his tea.

A few days later at the Konoha's gate.

"You all are to go on the same mission as Kakashi's team. Your mission is to head for the sand and support them with Kakashi's team. Understood?" - Tsunade

"Right!...A...ACHOO!!!" - Guy

"Have you a cold?" - Tsunade

"Nah, I've had hay fever for a while now...HAHAHAHA...Right! Everyone! Let's get to the Sand in one day!!" - Guy

"No! Sensei! Let's get there in  half a day!!" - Lee

"What are they thinking? It takes three days..." - Neji

"Please stop talking nonsense like that!" - Tenten said to Lee and Guy.

With that, they departed for Sunagakure!

"I'm so bored...and with the whole village being on high alert, going to a bar isn't an option either..." - Eiji complained while laying on the floor in the VIP room.

"But you aren't old enough for alcohol...it might mess with your head if you drink while your brain is still developing..." - Ukon was also laying like a vegetable on the floor.

"I don't want to hear words like mess and head from you...besides, if you are old enough to kill because of your profession, you should be allowed to drink! Really....who made those dumb laws..." - Eiji

"But killing is fun...I don't know if it's the case for drinking..." - Ukon

"You should really stop talking about stuff like that, or else you'll have problems finding a wife in the future, ya know?" - Eiji

"A wife...Why would I need that kind of stuff?"

"You know...for things like -" - Eiji instantly got up from his "vegetable state".

With dead fish eyes, Ukon turned to him: "...What's wrong? Need to shit or what?"

"Nah, my shadow clone dispersed, it's finally time."

"Really? I hope this time I can have some fun as well..."

"Who knows? The future is always uncertain and with unlimited possibilities..."

"Always when you said that, nothing happened."

Eiji smiled: "Don't worry, even if you can't join, you'll see an interesting show."