[He'd somehow managed to avoid unfurling the scroll till he'd returned to the village. Always late to the ball, but never late to the party. He scanned the words, and with a small noise of contemplation scribbled his reply in quick chicken scratch markings, haphazardly to the left of The Hokage's words.]

I don't keep secrets. I'm much too old for that.
Having said that, I'm sorry about the last few mission statements that failed to reach the Hokage Tower at the same time I reached Konaha. Some things just aren't meant to be.