---------

I felt a hand be placed onto one of my shoulders, making me jump and efficiently snapping my out of my depressing thoughts. I turned and saw that it was Rin that had placed her hand, her face full of worry, but she was trying to cover it with a small smile.

"You okay Harmony? You looked like you were lost in that maze of yours again," She said as she kept her hand in contact. I nodded my head and gave her a closed eye smile.

"Yeah, sorry. I guess I really got to get a handle on that, don't I?" I told her, and it must have been enough to reassure her, because she removed her hand, nodding her head as well.

"Like I said, it could endanger the mission if you keep on doing that Harmony," Kakashi said from beside. I hadn't noticed that he had walked up to us. He was holding one of Minato-senseis special sealed kunai and a small medical pack in one hand, the other extended towards me. I blinked at it for a few times, confused as to why.

"Ummmmm... Do you want a high-five or something..?" I asked him slowly, only to received a very blank look.

"Ahaha, geez Harmony. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that head of yours sometimes if you can forget such an important thing." Minato-sensei laughed, making my face flush slightly from embarrassment. I looked back at Kakashi and the things he was holding, putting two and two together.

'Right! His present!' I gave a nervous laugh as I took off my pack and dug in the side pocket, taking out a simple black threaded necklace with what looked like a slightly aged wolf fang hanging in the middle.

"Here you go Fang," I said, handing it to him, "the pendant on the necklace has some chakra in it, so if you're in a bind, you can use what's stored in here. It's not a lot, but it should be enough to help you escape or to stop you from passing out."

"Thank you very much Harmony," Kakashi said, taking to necklace, putting it on, and hiding it underneath his clothes. Lastly, he turned to Obito, hand outstretched just like he did to me.

"Wha. What's with the hand?!" Obito yelled at him, "I didn't do anything for you! Absolutely nothing!"

"That's fine... Make yourself useful... Carry my stuff for me." Kakashi told him in a bored tone. I bit my lips to help contain my laughter when I saw Obito's left eye twitch, his tell-tale sign before he explodes.

"IT'S A MYSTERY HOW YOU EVER BECAME A JOUNIN!"

"I don't want to talk to you about it," Kakashi replied, brushing him off. I watched as Obito was visibly shaking now.

'Maybe I should try calming him down... Don't want to have someone get murdered now.' I thought to myself as I took a step towards Obito, a hand up in a 'calm down' way.

"Okay, Obito. I know Kakashi is a huge ass, but I think you need to take a deep brea-"

"I AM OBITO UCHIHA OF THE UCHIHA CLAN! AND I WILL SURPASS YOU! AS SOON AS I AWAKEN THIS SHARINGAN!"

'And I think he just took a dive into the deep end... Well, it's never a dull day here on this squad, now is it?' I said to myself with a sigh. 'And here's why....'

"The Uchiha clan are all elite shinobis, aren't they..?" Kakashi questioned, "that's what I thought, but I guess they expected too much from you when entrusting you with a title like that."

"Whaaat?!" Obito growled at him, holding up a fist, looking ready to fight as I introduced my palm to my face. 'And there it is... Now, cue Rin, the peacemaker here.'

"You guys quit it!" Rin scowled as he walked in between the two. I lifted my head from my hand and sent Kakashi a disapproving look.

"And I think that's more directed at you, dumb dog. You didn't need to go that far and be that hard on him and his clan. They are the top enforcers of our village, so you shouldn't be taking them too lightly," I then turned to Obito, who paled," and you Obito need to stop complaining. It's your own fault that you forgot to even remember what today was, so carrying luggage isn't that bad, and you're the one that made this into an argument anyhow."

"HYPOCRITE! You forgot to Harmony!" Obito yelled, pointing a finger at him, which I lightly pushed aside.

"I momentarily forgot. Not entirely. I still had something prepared."

"Heeey... Can I explain the mission now? We're almost at the country border," Minato-sensei interrupted, gathering all of our attentions. The four of us looked at each other before looking back at him, all slowly nodding our heads.

"Okay then, then let us get going," He said as he began to walk again, the rest of us in tow.

"Still think you're a hypocrite, Harmony-chan," Obito teased under his breath as we walked side by side. I elbowed in the stomach for placing the -chan to the end of my name before grabbing a hair elastic from the wrist.

"Shut it pink eyes," I whispered back as I tied my long hair back into a ponytail, leaving only some of my side bangs loose to hang freely.

---

"Alright? it's this line." Minato pointed to a certain line on the map he had sped out on a large flat rock by the border. "Currently, the Earth Country is invading the Kusagakure*. That's this line. Of course, the enemy is Iwa-Shinobis*... We have information that there's already about a thousand shinobis at the enemy's front line. If they continue advancing like this..."

"They're advancing a lot faster than before..." I muttered out loud, surveying the map in front of us.

"Although the Fire country also borders the Kusagakure, if we wait too long, it's too late," Kakashi pointed out after Minato-sensei had stopped thinking out loud.

"Looking at this advance... Their rear support should be smooth too, shouldn't it?" Rin questioned, absorbing all the information we were receiving. Minato-sensei nodded before pointing to a certain point on the map, near to the line he had pointed to before.

"Our current miss is here, Kannabi Bridge. We'd need a lot of shinobis to hit the enemy's front line. Because of that. a few selected shinobi must go and sabotage them."

"The bridge... So this is a stealth mission?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes! Team Kakashi, your mission is to sneak in behind the enemy and destroy that bridge that they need to receive supplies. Then withdraw quickly."

"OKAY!" We all replied in sync.

"What about you Sensei?" Obito asked.

"I will engage the front line directly. To divert them away from you," He told us, before holding a hand out to us. "Right, this is Kakashi's first time as captain. We'll go together to the border, but from the on, the mission begins!"

"OKAY!" We all replied in sync again, each placing a hand on top of Minato-sensei's hand

---

'I don't think I'll ever get use to this forest. There're just some things about walking next to giant mushrooms growing out even larger trees that just freaks me out. Maybe because it seems so unnatural but no one questions it. Hell, I don't really even question it, just find it creepy...But then again, fighting against a guy who can easily swing a sword that's near twice his height with ease is pretty creepy too. Thank god I survived that one though, but one thing is for sure, I definitely don't want to go up against him ever aga- What the?!' I exclaimed in my mind when I nearly ran into Rin's back because she had stopped suddenly to avoid from running into Kakashi, who was in the lead. I sent the back of his head a WTF look for stopping without a warning until I noticed how tense he was now, that and he had a hand slightly out as a warning, which I hadn't noticed because of my mind rambling.

'I really got to get a handle on that...' I thought to myself before I took a breath and closed my eyes, concentrating my chakra and to calm myself down, now aware of what he had sensed. I opened one eye and cock my head to the side, listening carefully. 'He's alone.... For now. Any moment he could call for backup... Wait, no, there's more now!' I realized as I slowly crouched down behind one of the giant trees roots with the rest of my squad.

"Tsk... There's a lot here, nearly surrounding us. Can't pinpoint how many, though...' I whispered to them.

"There's around twenty Harmony. Possibly shadow clones..." Minato-sensei said from beside Kakashi. I nodded my head, both eyes closed again.

'That would make sense. Just a few seconds before he was making only enough sound to be one person, but the amount of noise suddenly spiked. Damn, sometimes that jutsu is a real pain in the ass, it's going to be real hard finding the real among the fakes.'

"It looks like it... Sensei, I'll head in, Please cover me," I opened both eyes and looked at him in surprise, was he an idiot?

"Don't be hasty. Kakashi, you should be the backup." Minato-sensei explained to him, but the Kakashi I knew was too stubborn to let something like this down.

"Sensei, I'm the captain today, right?! This is an excellent time to try out my new jutsu!" A burst of cracking blue light materialized in his right hand, giving off the sound of chirping and crying birds. 'That must be the 'thing' Fang has been working on for the longest time and wouldn't tell me! Though I can see why... It's a lightning based attack, and that would seriously hurt me if I even got grazed with it....'

"Chidori!" Kakashi yelled out; ready to sprint off, but Minato-sensei put a hand out in front of him as a silent order to stay still.

"Even if there's a lot of enemies, this jutsu can do it in an instant. It's the same as your nickname... Besides, today, I'm the captain. It's a rule that everyone on a squad follows the captain's instructions, isn't it sensei?!"

'Damn, he pulled the 'captain' card,' I swore in my mind as I watched Sensei pull back his hand and as Kakashi slammed his into the tree root, making it nearly exploded.

Rin, who was the closest besides Minato-sensei, had to cover her face to protect herself from sharps shards of wood flying to her. I watched as Kakashi ran at a near-impossible speed, destruction his dust trail.

"You're an idiot Kakashi. You don't just run straight in. Baka," I said out loud for everyone to hear, shaking my head, but keeping my eyes on where he was, or at least tried to. It was slightly easier to track him that way because the sound his 'Chidori' made was too loud and rebounded off everything, making it impossible for me.

Chink! Chink!

'What?' I searched where I heard the sound of metal hitting metal and saw a couple of kunai fall to the ground. I looked over to Sensei and saw that he was still in the pose from throwing the kunais, saving Kakashi, and then throwing one more, exactly pinpointing where the enemy is. 'Damn, didn't see them in time. Gotta work on that...' I scolded myself as I watched the small puff of smoke, the tell-tale sign a shadow clone was defeated, dissipate.

"What the-," Obito, who I was next too, suddenly called out. Before I know what I was doing I whipped out my flute and snapped it apart, revealing the two blades that were hidden in the body, and slicing the clone that looked like it was emerging from the ground. When I got a close look on his face before he turned into smoke a thought ran through my mind. 'I shall now call you Mr. Creepy, who loves the game hide-and-go-seek.'

"Oi! Pink eyes! Don't let your guard down! This is a war," I reprimed him as I but the two halves of my flute back together, now kneeling on the ground instead of crouching, trying to politely ignore the tears I saw welling up from behind in goggles. This was war dammit! And we were, for lack of the better term, trained killers! 'You don't cry from mere shock like that. You react!

"Just remember to stay aware of your surroundings next time, okay?" Rin, who was to the left of Obito, said softly, making a soft blush run across his cheeks as he hurried looked away from her. I chuckled under my breath as I watched this, even though a small pitiful in the pit of my stomach let itself known again, but just like all the other times, I pushed it down, not paying attention to it. Instead, I put my attention into trying to find where Kakashi had gotten to. I scrutinized the trees and giant mushrooms, not seeing a glimpse of the white haired boy.

"Kakashi!" Rin cried out, standing and turning around abruptly, Obito and myself as well. Minato and a now bleeding Kakashi were behind us. I rushed over to Kakashi and placed a hand over his wound, looking at him and our sensei in confusion.

"Wha-" I cut myself off, narrowing my eyes as I looked back to Kakashi, the thud of sensei pack being dropped was heard in the background. I didn't need to look to know that Sensei had gone to where the enemy was and had taken care of him. "That Iwa-shinobi... He had a short sword on his back... You were going too fast and didn't have time to evade, so sensei had to go and save you." My eyes narrowed even further when he didn't reply, just glared at the ground, one eye closed in pain. I sighed and pulled my now bloody hand away, standing up.

"Rin."

"Yes?"

"Take care of Kakashi's shoulder, please?"

"Of course, I'll start right now," Rin said as she moved to the spot I was, her hands over his wounds as the glowed a soothing green. I grabbed a scrap cloth from my bag and wiped the blood from my hands as I noticed that Minato-sensei was now back.

"Kakashi's wound is pretty bad. For now, we'll retreat back to the camp." He said as he calmly walked over to the four of us.

"I'm fine!" Kakashi defeated, but the small wince that he tried to cover counteracted it.

'No you're not, you dumb dog,' I thought, angry at him for being so careless, and in turn, making me worry.

"What do you mean 'fine'?!" Obito yelled out, "you selfishly went your own way against sensei's orders and did something crazy!"

"I don't want to say anything to you. To the 'elite Uchiha', a coward and a crybaby!" Kakashi reprimed as Rin worked on his wound, still keeping his bored-like tone.

"That... There was something in my eye and the tears were to get it out!"

"Do you know 'Shinobi rule 25'? The rule that says 'A shinobi must never show his emotions'!"

"Hey... You two should stop this," Rin pleaded from still beside Kakashi, finished healing him. I sent a pleading look to sensei, knowing that if there was hope to stop them, it was him.

"Take it easy you two..." He said sternly to them, effectively stopping them. "Kakashi. Of course, the rules and regulations are important, but, that's not all there is to it. I've told you before. There is also a time where you have to cope with the situation."

"Hah! Look!" Obito gloated as Kakashi looked back down at the ground.

"Obito! As for you! You were wearing your goggles, so you couldn't have had something in your eye. If you don't control your mouth, then your mind will become just as weak," He chastised Obito as well, stopping his gloating mood. "And one more thing... Kakashi. That jutsu you used. You shouldn't use it again. A thrust all concentrated in one point. Of course, you have the destructive power and speed, but, because the speed of your movements are so fast, you can't see your opponent's counter. Because of that, it's an incomplete jutsu."

"Before we separate... I'll say it again. The most important thing to a shinobi is teamwork!" All four of us looked down at the ground in shame, not wanting to meet our sensei's eyes as everyone got up and began to make our way back through the forest to our camp for the night.

---

"It's pretty much healed completely now. But if you over do it, the wounds will open up again," Rin told Kakashi as she tightly wrapped a medical bandage around his shoulder. I sat a little ways away, hair down, and rubbing my eyes, trying to stifle my yawns from a once again nearly sleepless night. Though I did smile slightly when I saw that he was wearing the necklace I had giving to him still.

"Alright," He told her, slowly reaching for his shirt, which laid right beside me. I pushed my hair away and handed it to him.

"Her-," a yawn cut off what I was saying as I handed his shirt to him. He gave me a concerned look.

"Thanks," he took the shirt from me, and began to put it one, "didn't get much sleep last night?"

I shrugged and began to pull my hair back up, sneaking a look over to Obito as Kakashi still had his shirt over his head. The talk between Minato-sensei and him about Kakashi's father surfaced in my mind before I looked back at my childhood friend. "I try, but you know me. I find staring at the moon and the stars more entertaining than finding out what my mind comes up with while I sleep.

"Okay! Let's head off!" Minato-sensei called out. All of us began to pack our bags as fast as we could.

"Yes, sir!" We called back, swinging our packs onto our backs, walking in time with our Sensei, who was in the front, then Obito and Rin, and then lastly Kakashi and I taking up the back. After a few minutes of walking, I reached back into my back and pulled out a small little green pill. I winced when I held it in my palm, but I placed it into my mouth and swallow nevertheless. I shook my head a little and stuck out my tongue after.

"God, those things have to be the worst tasting pills in the entire world," I complained under my breath as we walked.

"But yet, they are the only thing that will keep you awake through the day," Kakashi said back. I swatted him in the back of the head, just knowing that his mask was hiding a knowing smirk.

"Shut it know that even if I was half dead from fatigue I could still beat your ass in ten minutes."

"Riiight. The how come I'm the only jounin out of the two of us?" I tried to swat him again, but this time, he ducked. I secretly tried to hit him a few more times, making sure not to alert the people in front of us, though.

"Just. Stay. The. Fuck. Still. You. Fucking. Dog!" With each word I tried swatting him, only to him dodge again and again. I tried one more time, but this time, he grabbed my hand and flicked my forehead. I jerked and pulled my hand back, glaring at him.

"You are sooo asking for it," I angrily whispered at him, slowly pulling out a water skin that hung off my backpack.

"Harmony. Hands away from the water supplies," My hands froze where they were, mere centimetres away from it before I quickly pulled my hands behind my back, looking like a child who just got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Ahaha. Can't keep away from the water, can you?" Rin laughed as she walked back, a smile on her face.

I pointed over to Kakashi, "it's not my fault! He was asking for it!"

"I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to attack your captain, Harmony," I glared at him as he said that with a disappointing sigh.

"Shut it you!" This time, I turned my head away from him and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Enough you guys," Minato-sensei said, walking towards us. He was trying to look stern, but I could see that he was holding back a smile. "From here, we split unit two groups. Everyone, do you best. It was only by chance that the enemy was scouting alone. From now one, it'll be team battles. Be careful."

"Let's go... Captain," Obito spoke up. Now that I think about it, he had been unusually quiet all morning. I lowered my arms and looked at him, a hint of a smile on my lips. Looks like the talk Sensei and him had done some good.

"Right... Let's go!" Sensei said as he raised his right arm.