Five Down

[Toshi]

"Ah, there he is." Tousha muttered to himself. The Hokage was perched high atop the roof of a building in his usual garb; a black, long sleeved shirt worn under his old Jounin flack jacket, a pair of black, shinobi pants that just reached his ankles, shinobi sandals, his father's old red and white sash around his hips, and of course his large, round hat.

That morning he had busied himself with searching for another konoha shinobi that he could deem worthy of joining the guardians. Before making his choice he reviewed the members he had already recruited in order to determine what the group could be lacking. A few medical shinobi had caught his eye, but when he came across a member of the Aburame clan the old shinobi came to the conclusion that having someone with those particular talents could come in handy. So without another word Tousha unlatched a nearby window and threw himself out of it in order to begin his search. Sure, he could have sent a messenger or one of his razor birds, but he'd been cooped up in that stuffy office for far too long.

Now the Hokage found himself moving through the bustling streets of Konoha, making sure to keep an eye on the Aburame that was walking only a couple dozen feet ahead of him. In an instant the kage ate up the distance between the jounin and himself, avoiding the other villagers with relative ease.

"Got a minute?" Tousha asked as he appeared beside the Aburame.

[CDF]

Yasu had just recently narrowly escaped a village official who lit up upon seeing a jounin. Had a folder in his hands which no doubt meant a new mission that nobody else wanted. The official was surprised to see how fast the lethargic Yasu could move when he really wanted to.
Moving briskly, yet not too fast so as to be noticed, Yasu flowed through the crowd of villagers bustling through the streets as he tried to decide which of his hiding spots to relax in. It was then that he heard a voice suddenly appear behind him.

Yasu was frankly startled, giving a slight jump before turning around. He hadn’t heard anybody coming up behind him, this person was rather stealthy. Even for a shinobi, somebody that could move that quietly had to be at le- Oh crap.

Yasu wiped his sunglasses with his thumb real quick, as if to make sure this image wasn’t a distorted version of a regular person caused by his glasses. Unfortunatly, nope. It was the Hokage who was asking Yasu if he had a minute.

Maybe they noticed how few missions he had been taking? Yasu couldn’t help but groan inwardly, just thinking of working made his muscles long for relaxation.

“Of course, Kage.” With that, Yasu took a step to the side so as to step away from the bustling crowd and have a better place to speak with the Kage. This was one man Yasu wouldn’t be able to escape from even if he tried, so might as well not.

“Is something going on?” Yasu asked once he felt it was time to speak, curious as to whether he was about to be forced to work or get scolded.

[Toshi]

Tousha waved a nonchalant hand at the jounin and said, "No, no. It's nothing like that." The kage stepped out of the path of the busy street and stood beside the Aburame, though his gaze fell on the villagers shuffling here and there. Tousha was glad that a majority of the villagers hadn't noticed their leader was standing out in the open. Talking over a crowd of people that wanted your attention was such a pain.

"I wanted to speak with you about something important, Yasu." The kage said as he folded his arms behind his back. "Something I hope you won't take too lightly." The kage glanced at the Aburame standing beside him and asked, "But first, I hear that you've been avoiding my mission couriers." The Hokage flashed a crooked grin at the man and continued, "I wouldn't have brought it up, but I sort of just saw you practically sprint away from that man holding the envelope earlier."

[CDF]

Ah, poop.

They ended up talking about this after all. Yasu had lightened up as the kage began talking about something serious, hoping it wasn’t about his missions after all. In the end, it really wasn’t, but the kage noticed he was escaping yet another mission and called him out on it.

A guilty look slapped itself onto Yasu’s face who couldn’t help but give an embarrassed smile in response to the kage’s grin.

“Ah, sir. You know how it is, village as beautiful as this, I never want to leave. We have plenty of jounin for these missions, I rather stay here and enjoy the best of Konoha. I’m sure if there was anything serious, I’d know about it without having to be told by a courier, in which case, I would help. Plus, couriers have a knack for being obnoxious.” Yasu tried to put in a playful tone at the end in a desperate attempt to save himself, but only ended up feeling as if he dug himself a deeper hole.

Even more desperately, Yasu changed the subject. “SO, about that important thingy. If it’s so important for the Kage to personally come to me, I’ll most definitely take it seriously.” He wasn’t just trying to look good either, Yasu’s face become more serious as he thought it over. Now that he wasn’t busy trying to save himself, he could think about how something was up if the Kage met him in the middle of the street to talk to him. Yasu loved konoha too much not to take a possible important issue seriously.

[Toshi]

Though Tousha caught Yasu's less-than-subtle attempt to change the subject, the Hokage let the issue slide. For now. He understood why someone like Yasu would want to dodge certain responsibilities because, believe it or not, Tousha had been the exact same way in his youth. So instead of being a hypocrite and giving a really long and boring speech about how a shinobi should always put duty before pleasure, Tousha got to the point.

"I'm sure you're familiar with a group known as The Guardians of Konohagakure." Tousha stated, his gaze falling back onto the bustling street before him. "An elite team hand picked by the Hokage himself to ensure the protection of Konoha and uphold yadda yadda, you've heard all this before so I'll spare you."

Out of habit Tousha removed the metal jitte wedged under his belt and began to spin the defensive weapon on his index finger. "I've been trying to recruit the new set of Guardians for some time but there have been... er... difficulties." By difficulties, Tousha meant a few of the people he had picked previously were a disaster as a team. That had been entirely his fault and he knew it, which was why Tousha was taking a considerable amount of care in choosing the next batch.

"Anyway, I wanted to know if you were interested in joining. I've been reading your file all morning, and you seem like the kind of person I can trust." Then the Kage turned to meet Yasu's gaze, his bright green eyes slightly narrowed. "Unless I'm wrong with that assumption?"

[CDF]

Yasu released a loud sigh of relief as the Kage started talking about the Guardians and not his mission escaping. Pleased, Yasu followed the Kage’s gaze and watched the surplus of people passing by them. Even when filled with villagers, Konoha had a certain beauty to it that Yasu didn’t think existed anywhere else.
Yasu listened half heartedly, slightly distracted by his own thoughts as he watched the crowd. His own thoughts were kicked aside, however, once the kage asked him if he was interested in joining. Yasu nearly cracked his neck with how fast he turned to look at his Kage.

He said noting for a little while, his shocked brain still processing the question before finally kicking into gear. “Of course! I may be a lazy bastard, but you can count on me when it comes to the safety of Konoha. I love this place too much to let anything happen to it!” Yasu’s voice had raised slightly, as did his posture as he looked at the kage. As if to emphasis his joy, Yasu reached up and pulled the collar of his jacket down a little lower, revealing his happy smile as he spoke more, making sure his word weren’t muffled by his jacket. “This is a huge honor, Kage. I would be absolutely delighted to join the Guardians. Your assumptions are dead on, you can count on me. “ Yasu beamed proudly. He had never been this happy for being given more responsibility than since he became a chuunin, even the lazy aspect of his personality was pleased.

[Toshi]

Tousha clapped the jounin on the shoulder and returned his enthusiastic grin. "I'm glad that's the case. You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get the member before you to join..." The kage trailed off, thinking back a few nights prior with a shudder. Mako had been one tough cookie, it took a good forty five minutes and an appearance from Twilight's Avenger to convince the kunoichi to join the squad.

"But in any case, welcome to the team Yasu." the Hokage said as he fumbled through his many pockets for a light blue guardian sash with Konoha's crest sewn into it. finally the kage produced said sash and handed it to the jounin.

But on top of the neatly folded sash Yasu would find the very envelope the mission courier had been holding earlier. A neatly written note read:

"By the way, stop avoiding mission couriers.

-- Tousha

P.S. Stop standing in a dark alleyway alone. It's pretty creepy."

When Yasu would look up from the note he'd find that the Hokage was already gone.

[CDF]

Yasu accepted the sash happily, feeling the comfortable material before opening the card and reading the note. He smirked at the comment at first, but then frowned as he realized dodging missions would be a little more difficult now.

Upon reading the final note, Yasu smiled and looked up, hardly shocked to see that the Kage was no longer there.

Chuckling slightly, Yasu turned and walked back into the crowd.

Quite an important day.