The sounds of the morning market packing up had yet to fade when the mission counter's window opened halfway.
Team 7 stood at the front of the line. Kakashi took the new slip and glanced over it.
D-rank. Weeding.
He folded the mission slip into quarters and tucked it into his pocket, his other hand staying in the other pocket the whole time.
"You're free this afternoon. Report back tomorrow."
With that, he went down the steps at an easy pace. No one intended to follow.
Naruto shouted half a sentence after him, failed to stop him, and turned to glare at his retreating back.
"...Why is it pulling weeds again?"
No one took that up.
Last time, they had looked for a cat. This time, they were pulling weeds.
In the days since graduation, each mission slip had been more down-to-earth than the last.
He turned to look for an ally, but Sasuke was already five steps away.
Sakura hurried after him, and the two headed toward the breakfast stalls.
Someone in the two squads lined up behind them gave a quiet laugh, just loud enough for the whole team to hear.
No one asked what Kakashi himself planned to do that afternoon, either. Asking would have been pointless.
Their Jonin leader had said they were free, so the half day belonged to them.
Kiyoshi stood on the steps for a while, arranging the rest of his day: nothing during daylight, plans for the evening.
Naruto had declared it the night before. Ramen.
If he didn't go, Naruto could stand downstairs shouting until dark.
He took a nap that afternoon, then got up and put the things in his room back in place, tucking the sleeve ends into the cabinet and pressing his backpack beneath his pillow.
Once everything