Prelude: Long-Awaited Introduction

"So, I think I made a new friend today," remarked a slight teenaged boy, leaning back on a tree branch where he was perched.

"Oh?" asked his companion, a young man who was only a couple of years older but had a sturdier frame. He raised one light brown eyebrow. "What kind of friend?"

"Not that kind, Rai! He's too young, for one thing. Just out of the Academy in fact, I think he's eleven. He's a funny kid though, likes to play pranks. I caught him today at the Hokage's office, laying some kind of strange trap. You should have seen it… Sandaime acted like it was a pretty regular occurrence too, for all that he tried to act annoyed."

"Huh, that's kind of interesting, I guess," admitted Raidou. "So why is this kid your new friend if you caught him in the act?"

The smaller boy shrugged, pulling a long thin needle from his vest and playing with it. "He was pretty cool about the whole thing. I stopped him because I had no way of knowing it was a prank and not something dangerous, and he realized that. We talked for a bit, about his trap, because it was really a nice design. His name's Umino, and he's got a cute scar on his nose, you've probably seen him around."

Raidou shrugged. Scars weren't that strange in a village full of ninja, though so far both he and Genma had managed to avoid any major ones. Then again, they had only been out of the Academy a few years themselves, and were still Chuunin. "I don't know. Name doesn't ring a bell, but then I don't pay much attention to kids. Except Hatake perhaps, but that's just because he outranks us already."

Genma shrugged again, still playing with the senbon thoughtfully. "Hatake's definitely in his own class. This kid, though, it's not that he's that much of a ninja. It's just… he's something else. And he has this smile… you should see, he's sad about so many things in his life, but he smiles so brilliantly." Sticking the senbon in his mouth, he suddenly pushed off the tree limb with a burst of chakra, flying up into the sky for an exhilarating moment before catching himself on the exact limb his friend Raidou was sitting on. "Come on, let's go find some fun," he said to Raidou, before letting go and falling the rest of the way to the ground.

Raidou laughed and followed his rambunctious friend, as he had been doing for as long as he could remember already.

A few weeks passed before Genma mentioned the boy again. "So, wanna hear what Iruka did the other day?" he asked Raidou. They were on the way back from a mission, and Raidou would really prefer silence, because their team member Aoba had spoken enough for all of them on this mission. But Raidou merely nodded, because Genma was his best friend. So Genma continued. "He and his teammates strung their Jounin-sensei up from the ceiling in the mission room with a trap after he bailed 

on them during a particularly annoying mission. Took the guy forever to get down, and no one was willing to help him because the Genin kept going on and on about 'useless sensei deserted them in their time of need' and such. I walked in on the mess turning in a report, and it was a riot."

"That's very clever," said Raidou with a nod. "I have to meet this kid someday."

Genma shrugged. "Yeah, I always seem to wind up hanging out with him when you're not around. Maybe when we get back we can all do something."

They didn't wind up "doing something" until almost a year later, and by that time Raidou was quite tired of hearing about his best friend's other friend. He had to admit, however, when the tan boy with the facial scar strolled by him wearing a backwards bandana hitae-ate and holding a senbon in his mouth, he was kind of intrigued. "Hey, Iruka-kun!" he called out, trying to get the kid's attention. The kid just kept walking, and Raidou chased after him, finally grabbing him and spinning around. "Hey, you're Genma's friend Iruka, right?"

The boy shook his head. "How can I be my own friend? And who's Iruka?"

Raidou's mouth fell open. "Have you ever heard the word 'henge', kid? Because if you're really going to try to impersonate Genma, for whatever reason, you're going to need to learn how to do one."

A low laugh came from behind Raidou, and he spun on his heel to find the real Genma standing there, missing his hitae-ate and senbon. He looked younger without the items, somehow, and Raidou was struck with a memory of their Academy days. "It's the new game, apparently. Silly boy won't answer to his own name when he's doing it." Genma reached out a long hand and swiped the bandana off Iruka's head, then plucked the senbon from his mouth, carefully so as not to hurt the kid with it. "Game's up, little guy. I want to introduce you to my friend." He made formal introductions, which seemed ridiculous considering the situation.

Iruka bowed formally, and smiled up at Raidou. "Nice to finally meet you, Raidou. I've heard tons about you. Oh, and by the way," with this the smile turned into a definite trickster's grin, and then Iruka flashed through hand-seals, doing a perfect henge of Genma. "I can be Gen-chan anytime I want, but it's more fun to play it the other way."

Raidou laughed, shaking his head. "Genma was right, you sure are something , kid," he said. Any animosity he had felt over having to hear Genma talk about Iruka for the past year melted away, because, after all he was just a kid. And Raidou had a feeling he was going to be a permanent part of their little group, so he might as well get used to him. And learn to sleep with one eye open, if the stories Genma told were any indication.