Red Nara

- Uh... Oops? - I didn't even think to be embarrassed, just shrugged. - As if you saw something new to you.

- Pervert! - The jonin said with a sigh, and Saya nodded in affirmation and looked at me almost proudly.

- Not a pervert, just a healthy sixteen-year-old boy with hormones coming out of his ears," I jokingly corrected, smiling, "and who throws himself at anything that moves, and has breasts, respectively.

- Go away, you rabbit," Keiko snorted, not noticing Ma's darkened gaze at the word 'our' for a moment.

- Yeah, yeah," I waved my hand indifferently and turned around, heading back to my bedroom.

I had about a month before graduation, so maybe I'd have time to think of something to do with the unexpected team. My plans didn't include any students, at least not until I graduated from Anko-chan Shinobi Academy, so I had only a rudimentary outline of the curriculum in my head.

  ***

- Another failure, Danzo? - Sarutobi asked rhetorically, sipping his pipe serenely and turning his chair toward the window, sitting sideways to the late visitor and looking at the faces of the rulers of the village on the cliff.

Hatake Sakumo and his team had only returned from their mission last night, and as commander had submitted a report the next morning, but news of his adventures had spread through the village literally instantly, despite the secrecy measures taken.

And Sarutobi did not unreasonably suspect agents of clan influence, eager to further enhance the reputation of the eventual Hokage candidate. After all, he was recently in his sixth decade, which is ancient by shinobi standards, and there were whispers among Konoha's forces about replacing the leader with a younger and more promising one, making the current ruler nervous.

- First the failure to eliminate Nara, and you never found out what happened there," the Hokage puffed smoke, "then the resounding failure with Sakumo, which made his reputation soar....

- If there are no bodies and virtually no signs of battle, even the best oinin won't be able to figure it out, especially with Kumo's numerous search teams scouring the area," Shimura replied firmly, "I've already lost a good number of good fighters to them, not counting those involved in the Nara stakeout. It's likely that a fourth party intervened and the carefully orchestrated plan failed, allowing the target to slip out of the trap without encountering hostile forces.

- Well, what about Shiroi Kiba? - A frowning Sarutobi turned to his longtime friend.

- 'The operation failed for one simple reason - critical underestimation of Hatake's forces,' the one-eyed veteran grumbled, 'to expect the resulting outcome was insane.

And indeed, to expect that one shinobi of the S class could not only save his captured partners by defeating Kiri's stronghold, but at the same time continue the main task of destroying Mist's military base, from which raids on Kaze no Kuni's territory were being made, would be too much.

As would the fact that somehow, in some unthinkable way, he would not only stay alive, but succeed in destroying the base's contingent led by TWO of Mist's swordsmen. Only a madman could expect such a result from one fighter, no matter how strong, which is why Hatake's reputation has soared despite losing one partner while already retreating from enemy territory.

The two veterans had no way of knowing that the head of the small Hatake clan would be so powerful. Only Hiruzen himself had shown such results in battle in his youth, not counting monsters like Madara and the Senju brothers.

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