The sun slowly climbed its way up over the horizon, bringing forth the life giving light that stretched over the entirety of the land. A blanket of sunshine covered the Konoha, a wake up call upon its own. Minutes into the bright and sunny morning, citizens began their daily routines. Shop owners began to open their doors, stocking the shelves with items to be sold for the day. Parents and children started their daily walk to school, making their way to one of few non-ninja academies. The village ninja had awakened as well, having made use of the rooftops as a mode of transportation to get where they need to be. Immediately the great round Hokage building went to work, hundreds of people walking in and out as the minutes went by.

On the eastern side of town sat a moderately kept up apartment complex, the dull brown color providing a boring but welcoming feeling. On the third floor lied a young boy, heavily dozing off the end of his bed. The gray and orange covers hung off the side, some of it touching the floor. A pillow sat comfortably on his chest while his head and spiky black hair hung off the end as well.

BOOMBOOM!

The boy jolted awake to the sound of someone pounding at his door. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes while simultaneously fighting off the dizzying tiredness. Slipping on a shirt, the boy dragged his feet as he headed to the door. Once opened he noticed two older ANBU ninja, one of them, a man, wearing an elegantly painted bird mask.  The other one, a woman, wore a colorless monkey mask

"Shizake? Uchiha Shizake?" the man in the colored mask said.

The Uchiha slowly nodded his head before waiting to hear what they had to say.

"The Hokage requests your presence. Please, come with us," the girl said very dryly, stepping to the side and holding her arm out.

The boy reached over and slid on his ninja sandals, walking out and closing the door behind him before locking it. Without question, he followed the ANBU escort across the brightly painted buildings of Konohagakure. A short ten minutes later brought them in front of the building as they quickly made their way to the top floor of the building where the Hokage's office is seated.

The man in the bird mask knocked twice before he opened the door.  He held his arm out to signal the Uchiha to go inside. Shizake walked inside, confusedly looking around the room to see four more ANBU, most likely a team, two of which he recognizes from the junior ANBU academy.

"Shizake, welcome," the Hokage said gruffly while dragging on his pipe.

"Hello, Lord Hokage," the Uchiha answered with a bow.

"We'll cut straight to the point. You've made exceptional progress in the junior academy but you still have a ways to go. We are assigning you on an escort mission, one that should be relatively simple. Think of it as a test of sorts.  We want to assess your skills and see exactly how far you've come."

Shizake eyed the ANBU team standing to the left of the Hokage's desk, the ANBU staring back blankly from behind their masks. Curiosity plagued his mind, which was mostly blocked by an urge to show off his skills.

"As you know, the chunin exams are coming up and tensions are high. We've offered escorts to all the villages we are hosting. Some have refused while others said yes to the offer," the Hokage continued.

Shizake brought his attention back to the village leader, clearing his throat as well.

"My lord, may I ask what village is being escorted on this mission?"

"Tsukigakure, a village we haven't had much contact with. We were unsure they would even send any ninja for the exams but, whoa and behold, they contacted us saying they would send three genin," the Hokage said while holding three fingers up.

"Tsukigakure...? I see."

"They are located far south near the peninsula of fire country. The village seemingly stretches out into the ocean, hills and small mountains surrounding the area. At least... that's what I have heard."

"I accept the mission my lord," Shizake replied, determined to do this correctly.

"Excellent.  Gather your gear, you head out immediately."

***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***

Deep in the earthy forests of fire country sat a halfway mark of sorts between the Leaf Village and the Tea Country. The tiny village sat comfortably on the edge of a forest, a huge clearing for it to settle in. The ANBU team stepped into the town, lazily walking through while the sun set in the distance.

Not many citizens were around at the time due to the fact that the place is so small. The team searches for a motel or an inn to stay at for the time being. Only a day's journey remained until they reached the port town that would take them to the Crescent Moon Island.

The captain of the ANBU team walked through the town but was unable to find a place for them to stay. A villager out walking about told him that they don't have many visitors so it's only just a rest stop for people passing through. The team decided to create a camp out on the edge of town as to not bother anyone who may be trying to sleep.

"Hey, kid," he captain of the ANBU squad said.

He wore a very aggressively painted rhino mask, his voice deep and comforting yet tough as nails at the same time.

"Yes sir?" Shizake answered back.

"You know you're only here to observe, right?"

The Uchiha nodded his head, quickly understanding his role in the group and mission at hand.

"Unless we get into a dire situation, you are not to act except for under my command. Got it?" the captain continued.

Once again the Uchiha nodded, a final cementing of the knowledge into his mind.

"I think you'll do just fine," the captain grumbled off before going back to poking the fire.

"Thank you sir," Shizake said before returning back to his own thoughts.

The creatures of the night played their song, coming out from their homes to bring life to the seemingly quiet forest. The rest of the team fell asleep except for Shizake and one of the other teammates. Neither of them said anything to one another, they simply just enjoyed the quiet peacefulness of the night. Every once in a while the Uchiha boy would glance over to the person but they would remain still as a statue, their eyes fixated on either the burning embers or the night sky. The boy was unable to tell. From his small glimpses he learned that it was a girl due to the fact she has a short ponytail coming from behind her mask, which was a falcon looking bird mask.

After an hour the girl finally spoke up, her soothing voice escaped her lips like water smoothly flowing out of a waterfall, "You."

Shizake lifted his head, glancing around the camping area to see if she was talking to anyone else. "Me?"

"Yes, you. What do they call you?" she asked.

"Well...Sh-...Kouen. Kouen is what I am called," the boy replied.

"Kouen...I will remember that."

"Did...did I do something?"

The girl giggles softly from behind her mask, a sparkling eye meeting Shizake's dark ones. "I see great potential in you...  Qualities that would come from a leader."

The boy adjusted his lizard mask, his jaw flexed in thought. "But I haven't done anything."

"You give off a sort of...air. Sometimes you can sense a person's energy...easily."

"Well, thank you, I suppose."

"You're welcome."

The girl stood up and ducked inside one of the tents, leaving the Uchiha boy alone with the fire. Millions of questions ran through his head but he drops them, shrugging them off and deciding to keep focus for the mission ahead.

***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***

After another hard day's journey, the team had finally made it to the port town in Tea country. It was quiet, peaceful, and not heavily crowded, making it easy for the team to walk through town. Soon enough they arrived at a series of docks, a booth sitting out in front of them. The ANBU team walked up to the booth and knocked on it. An old man slowly opened up the wooden window before asking the ANBU captain what he needed. Apparently Hiruzen, the Hokage, had already sent word that the ANBU team would be coming and would need safe passage as well.

Soon enough the team was on their way after securing a boat. It was only a day's journey to the Crescent Moon Island since it wasn't entirely too far off the coast of Tea Country. The captain informed them that the Crescent Moon Kingdom ruled over the entire island, which means they were heavily involved with the Moon Village that protected the kingdom. The captain also informed them that they would probably not see the Kingdom, as the village contained the only safe entry point. The waters around the Kingdom part of the island were extremely dangerous. This safe spot made it incredibly difficult for anyone to possibly invade the country without dealing with the Tsukigakure first.

Once again the team arrived at a port town, though this time on the Moon Island. They were informed that once they headed inland for about three hours they would arrive at the village.

The absolute beauty of the Village Hidden Under the Moon left the ANBU team stunned at first. At least until the captain decided to keep pushing forward. Stepping into the village was dizzying at first for the team, the architecture like none other they had ever seen. The village was built into the side of a luscious mountain, covered with plentiful agriculture as far as they eye can see.

Unsure of where to go, the team mindlessly walked around in search for something that resembled a Kage building. Curious villagers eyed the newcomers, murmuring among themselves and offering directions whenever asked. It was a strange contrast to most ninja villages. Rather than treating the Konoha ninja with suspicion, they appeared to welcome the strangers.

Finally two village ninja appeared before the team, dressed in casual ninja attire. One of them with short and neat blue hair, a headband with a crescent moon on it tied around his head. The other ninja was only a bit younger, his long messy brown hair touching his shoulders. He too had the village's headband tied around his forehead.

"You must be the shinobi from the Konoha we heard about. Ya look a little lost," The older ninja with blue hair teased. "Follow us, we'll lead you to where you need to be."

After they followed the two village ninja, the squad of ANBU found themselves looking at a hill, a lone tree sitting up at the top. Upon the hill and around the tree sat four figures, hanging out there at the top.

The younger village ninja with brown hair pointed to the top of the hill, "Those are the people you are escorting. Thank you, and good luck."

The captain of the ANBU team quickly thanked the two village ninja before leading his team to the top of the hill. As the team approached the tree, the four figures stopped what they were doing before turning their attention to the peculiar ninja standing before them.

"You must be our escort. Nice to meet you. I am Megumi and this is my team," a young woman with red hair said. A sword and sheath rests along her belt, the tip a couple of feet from touching the ground.

"Yes, we are the escort from the Leaf Village. We wish to leave as soon as possible if that is alright with you," the captain formally said.

"Straight to the point, are we? Fair enough I guess." Megumi rolled her eyes. "Let's get a move on then," she added to her team.

The team consisted of three young genin. One of them a young boy with spiky green hair and a matching green shirt to go along with it. The next was a shy and reserved young girl with short-ish blonde hair who gave them a mile wide smile when she realized she was being observed. She wore a purple shirt with a long sleeve underneath that reached up to her wrists. The last was another young girl her black hair draped over her shoulders and reaching down to her shoulder blades. She wore a blue and gray shirt, a black glove on her right hand.

The Uchiha noticed something about the last girl, a sort of...familiar air about her. He tried to place his finger on it but couldn't quite come to a solution so he just gave up.

Without wasting time, the team of ANBU plus the genin team and their sensei left the village as quickly as they came, the mission proceeding underway.

*~*~*~

Posting in a rush.  Need to get to class.  Be happy, Shizake :P Anyway, this chapter was written by said Shizake, so you probably noticed a difference in writing style.  You get his character introduced.  Also, depending on what I decide, Sasaui's name in this may change because of reasons behind her amnesia and everything.  I meant to say something else... Oh!  Next chapter will be by me.  Now, gotta go XD Class!