Kurenai frowned at the memorial stone, tracing her finger over her father’s name but before her mind could sink any further, she pulled back both mentally and physically. Behind her, Asuma leaned underneath the shade of a tree, leisurely smoking a cigarette. Above him sat Kakashi, reclining on one of the thicker branches, chortling to himself.

“Do you have to read that in public?” asked Kurenai.

Kakashi yawned. “Civilians are barred access from the training grounds, ergo: not a public space.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Reading them in your presence?” Asuma suggested.

“No.” Kurenai began to frown, sensing the by-play between the two. “I meant reading… erotica outside the privacy of your own home.”

“Ooh, erotica,” whispered Kakashi, leaning down towards Asuma while cupping a hand over his mouth. “That one’s a dirty word.”

Asuma chuckled. “Cut her some slack. She gets that enough from Anko.”

“That’s another thing,” said Kakashi, his single grey glimmering with unabashed amusement. “How do you regularly hang out with the most provocative, sexually liberal kunoichi in the village, but blush whenever anyone throws out innuendo.”

Asuma stifled his laughter. “And whenever she says something that little kiddies shouldn’t be hearing, she starts looking about as if the ANBU’s onto her.”

The two men snickered at her expense and she huffed, unwilling to feed their relentless teasing. It all started after Gai treated the three of them to a meal following the genin draft meeting. Kurenai was expecting the two to be polite at best, but once they found a common goal in making fun of her right-mindedness, it was curtains for her.

So, she waited until they finished laughing to change the topic. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Kakashi, but I’m surprised you didn’t fail this batch.”

“So am I,” he replied. “But they show promise. Sakura… has a lot of room to grow, but her chakra control is second to none. While Shino and Sasuke aren’t the most vocal of people, their ability speaks for itself and Sakura’s willing to do almost anything Sasuke says, so their teamwork isn’t half bad.”

“I thought my old man forced them onto you,” said Asuma.

“He did. He’s been forcing brats onto me for years,” Kakashi replied. “I want to go back to the ANBU but his condition is that at least one of my students makes jonin to replace the loss.”

“And since you have the Sharingan and can teach him the most, Sasuke Uchiha is your ticket back,” said Kurenai.

“Exactly.”

There was something in Kakashi’s response that didn’t sell the reasoning to her, but she let it go—because in the end, it wasn’t her business.

“I feel sorry for all the brats you flunked before,” said Asuma as he finished the last of his cigarette. “We all know the Genin Corps has nothing on receiving consistent training from a jonin. It’ll take them double the time to become chunin.”

Kakashi grunted. “Trust me, they weren’t fit to be shinobi and it’s not like they all went to the Genin Corps. They repeated the Academy’s final year first—the Genin Corps was for the ones who failed the genin test a second time.”

“What, you’re telling me you flunking them was a good thing?”

“Yes, actually.” Kakashi hopped down from the tree and pulled out a notebook from the pouch at his back. “I’ve kept a list of every single team Lord Third has thrown at me. Most of them passed their next genin tests with flying colours and then around a quarter became chunin within two years—a couple have even become tokubetsu jonin.”

“Look at that,” Kurenai put her hands on her hips and smirked at Asuma, “even Kakashi is more responsible than you.”

“...I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered, looking away.

“Please,” She grinned, tasting blood in the water, and stepped closer to him, “tell us how your genin didn’t get a test.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Really?” asked Kakashi, sounding vaguely impressed. “You passed them right off the bat?”

“In my defence, I’ve been training Naruto for years.”

“And the other two?” Suddenly, he jumped back and clutched the sides of his face in horror. “...No. Don’t tell me you’re going to come out and reveal you’ve been training your genin team years before us.”

Kurenai laughed.

“No, just Naruto, and to be honest, I didn’t think they needed a test,” said Asuma, a nostalgic look in his eye. “With a bond like that, I won’t have to worry and their capabilities speak for themselves.”

Kakashi did his strange eye smile thing and Kurenai hid her satisfaction behind a disappointed shake of her head and an off-hand remark.

Truth be told, she was glad that Asuma had found meaning in something after his time out of the village. Not to mention it helped knock off the last vestiges of immaturity off of him—though the beard helped a lot with that.

…Of course, he ruined the moment the minute he opened his mouth.

“Bets, anyone?”

She huffed and folded her arms.

“I’m in,” said Kakashi. “What are we betting on?”

“Who’s going to win the training exercise, of course. Who are you betting on, Kakashi? My lot?”

He stroked his chin. “That’s a tough one. Sasuke is by far the strongest member of Team 7 but right now, he’s little more than a skilled civilian. We didn’t say Team 10 were to be treated by Team 7 as hostile shinobi in our instructions, so their best move would have been to link up with them. Oh well, that will be my first lesson for them after this is over. Don’t forget to look underneath the underneath.”

“My team should have thought of that as well. Five and a half against three is good odds no matter how you cut it, especially since no one on my team has their chakra sealed and, no offence Kurenai, they’ll win a pitched three vs. three against your kids.”

Kurenai smiled. “Hinata Hyuuga has no clue that she’s a target, though. Why did you pick her?”

“Naruto tends to put a lot onto himself and that’s true both in life and in battle. Whether he’s the target won’t matter because he’s fighting under the assumption that he is. Meanwhile, Choji’s role won’t change regardless of him being the target.” Asuma began to smile. “No, it’s Hinata who’ll learn the most from being a target.”

“How about you, Kakashi?” asked Kurenai.

His mask stretched over his face as he yawned. “Shino’s good, but not enough to carry an entire team on his back and Sakura’s no frontline fighter. Their teamwork is alright, but it needs a lot of work. Essentially, it boils down to doing whatever Sasuke says and backing him up. Sasuke is literally Team 7’s greatest strength. I need Shino and Sakura to appreciate their abilities and more importantly, I need Sasuke to respect them.”

She couldn’t help but smile at their reasoning. The two of them cared a lot about their students and that was easy to forget amongst their aversion to hard work. That said, Kurenai was confident in her team's ability to successfully capture both targets and she’d make that known.

“Since direct confrontation is a hunting squad’s natural weakness, I think my team will have the most trouble with Team 10. Luckily, they don’t have to beat Team 10.” Kurenai looked at Kakashi. “If I’m right, Team 7 will be the first to go, swiftly followed by your team, Asuma.”

“Is that you throwing your bet in?” asked Asuma.

Kurenai rolled her eyes. “Oh, alright—consider that me putting my money with Team 8. Kakashi?”

“Naturally, I’m going with my cute genin,” replied the silver-haired man. “How much are we betting?”

Asuma scratched at his beard. “How about 2,500 ryo? It’s enough for a decent meal—or some drinks, I guess. Just to be clear, winning means evading capture, right?”

She nodded.

“Then, if my team evades capture but Kakashi’s doesn’t, he pays the both of us 2,500 ryo?”

“He would,” she replied.

The masked jonin raised his hands and gasped. “Woah, why me?”

“You just admitted that your team is screwed six ways to Sunday without Sasuke Uchiha,” said Asuma.

Kurenai giggled. “Don’t worry, Kakashi. There’s plenty of time to fix your team’s power balance. For now, just accept the hit to your wallet because it’s not like you’re running short on money. Anyway, what were you saying, Asuma?”

“I’m going with Team 10 but I’ve got some specifics: my team evades capture but Kakashi’s doesn’t.”

She raised an eyebrow and folded her arms. “...You know that won’t net you any extra money, right?”

“Too late.” Kakashi shook Asuma’s hand immediately, sealing the deal. “It’s the principle of the thing. Just imagine if the opposite happens, Kurenai.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

This time, it was Asuma who replied, “Think of it like a sub-bet between Kakashi and I. So, what are you offering me if I win? It can’t be money since our evil overlord has spoken.”

Kurenai sighed, resigning herself to the two of them doing whatever the hell they wanted.

“Hmm…” He paced through the grass, moving in and out of the shade. “One unbound favour.”

Asuma’s stare was intense. “Favours are serious things, Kakashi. I’ve got no say where or when you might call it in.”

“Can’t you just trust me?” asked Kakashi.

“No,” said Asuma with a snort. “For all I know you might ask me to grab a limited edition of the Icha Icha series. There are a lot of things I’m willing to do but I have my limits.”

“Okay, fine.” Kakashi pulled out his notebook and handed it to Asuma. “Jot down your terms so my favour won’t break them. Do we have a deal?” Asuma returned the notebook after a few minutes and they shook hands.

“I guess so.”