Disclaimer:

I still don't own anything, more's the pity.

XXXXX

"As of this moment you are reinstated to active duty. Dismissed."

There were three polite bows from the genin of Team 7. All of them turned to exit, but their jounin sensei lingered in the room, his features hard and his eyes boring into his father's with obvious resolution.

Naruto hesitated, for a moment, before a slight tug on the arm from Sakura got him moving out of the room.

The Hokage broke eye contact with his son to look on at the casual mannerism in which the team interplayed. It spoke of trust, something he had only hoped Naruto would be able to give, eventually. That it had happened so fast spoke much of the team he was put in, his teacher and of course the trials they had been put through.

A small smile, warming his grizzled features played on his lips.

With the sound of the door closing the happy moment broke. The elder man turned his sight to his slightly estranged son. It was remarkable that the elder Sarutobi mussed, how much his features resembled his own, even though he had adopted a different style for himself. There was much of his mother in him, of course, but he could clearly see himself as a young man in Asuma's face. The cigarette he was smoking also seemed to be a family feature although the jounin had started decidedly younger and in much greater quantities.

More tries, unsuccessful ones mind you, to be different. It was regrettable how the bond between two of the staunchest believers in the Will of fire had become. Judging by the unmoving stiff posture and piercing gaze of Asuma thought he had little interest in reminiscing in the follies of the past. In fact, the grizzled shinobi had a fairly good idea of what exactly his son wanted to converse about. But still, niceties had to be followed even with family, especially with family. No quarter could be shown in official situations. It came with being Hokage.

It was also the crux of the estrangement.

"And why aren't you on your way to rest for the night like your team?"

Asuma continued staring at his refusing to answer, tapping impatiently with his right foot. It was a habit he had had even since he was a child.

Well, direct it was then.

"Speak, then." the old man said with a heavy sigh, reaching for his unlit pipe.

Asuma took a deep breath.

"Why are you trying to break my team?" Asuma asked his voice hard and filled with barely restrained venom.

Had it come from anyone else it would be disrespect worthy of punishment. Coming from his last remaining child it was simply gut wrenching.

"Explain your reasoning and I will answer as best as I can."

Asumas's raised eyebrow clearly conveyed exactly how likely he found that, but he nodded and gathered himself nonetheless.

"In short, your pushing them too far, too fast,: Asuma said, his voice heated "I'll be the first to admit that those three are probably the most talented bunch of genin I have ever seen and they seem to thrive under pressure, but they are kids still, and moreover, I've read their psych reports. Sakura seems the most normal of the three, but..."

"You haven't red the full reports, mostly because I've kept them well out of reach. Sakura isn't as bad as the boys but she has her fair share of problems too," the Sandaime said, interrupting his son's speech.

A shocked look on Asuma's face, the elder Sarutobi found for the millionth time, did not suit the normally jovial man at all. With a sigh the old man made a hand seal, activating the privacy wards around his office, the faint tightness in his chest that he felt every time he used them returning in full force. The seal had been personally crafted by his successor and sadly, predecessor after all. They had not failed, unlike many other things and people in Konoha, including himself.

By the time the Hokage finished with his task, Asuma had managed to master his emotions, his expression becoming stony once more.

"I assume you would like to see the files, Asuma?"

His son gave a clipped nod in answer. Hiruzen went through a long string of hand signs, biting his thumb afterwards and putting the bloodied finger on a night inaccessible and insignificant part of his desk. With a small puff of smoke and a faint trace of chakra, a drawer popped out.

Wiping the spots of remaining blood from his finger, the elder Sarutobi reached inside and removed the rather thick files, complete with current pictures of the genin of team 7 clipped to the front and red 'Confidential' stamps placed rather forcefully on the paper.

The Hokage threw the three files on the desk in front of his son and urged him to read with a wave of his hand.

Without hesitation Asuma reached forward and began quickly going through the reports, becoming paler and paler with every turned sheet of paper.

The old man idly fiddled with his pipe as he waited for his scion to read through the files, the very picture of apathetic boredom.

It was an image he had perfected over the years, one quite in contrast with his actual self. Being powerful did not protect one from the need for masks. Quite the opposite, it demanded them.

After all it was always better to not look the part of the powerful shinobi. Then, when you had to show power, people tended to be surprised.

The files slammed on the desk as Asuma threw them, making some other documents fall to the ground. The Hokage made a mental note to have one of his assistants sort out the mess later.

The jounin sensei's face was a curious shade of red, the elder Sarutobi observed and he was literally shaking with what could only be described as barely restrained fury. With sharp forceful gestures the younger man took out his pack of cigarettes and shoved one unceremoniously in his mouth to even bothering with looking for a lighter, using a small burst of his chakra to produce a flame which lit the tobacco stick instead. Hiruzen was honestly impressed, the flame had been very well controlled, despite the emotional state of his son. His elemental manipulation had come far.

It wouldn't have been surprising for it to accidently incinerate half the room judging by the emotions flickering across Asuma's face at the moment.

A drag of the cigarette that made it half its original length and a veritable smokescreen later, Asuma was visibly more composed.

That did not prevent the shouting. Nor the sliver of thanks that rose in the Hokage's mind for the high quality of the seals in the room. People didn't need to know that his shinobi, even if it was his son, dared to take such a tone with him.

"Are you fucking insane?!" Asuma shouted, slamming both of his hands on the desk and leaning forward towards his unflinching father. "Exactly what combination of these three makes you think it's even a remotely good idea to make finely tuned weapons of?"

Another long drag of the cigarette followed, along with another cloud of smoke. The Hokage remained silent.

"It says in the… evaluation" the jounin spat in disgust "that Naruto is emotionally stunted, dangerously obsessed with his self-proclaimed "nindo" which he got from a story of all things, fanatically loyal to you, has no worth of life as such and to top it all off is bored line suicidal in his attempts to please you. Sasuke's mind is apparently unhinged, absolutely focused on his brother to the point of seeing everything and everyone even unconsciously as a tool for his removal and that's without even mentioning the mental trauma from the night of the massacre and the genjutsu his brother put him under, the survivals guilt and the shame of running away." A last drag finished the cigarette, clearly showing exactly how unnerved Asuma was. "I guess that compared to those two Sakura has the smallest problems, just almost crippling insecurity and self-doubt, a slight case of a split personality, excessive violence and obsessive tendencies."

Finishing his rant, Asuma slumped forwards, placing his elbows on the desk and his face in his hands, muttering silently.

"Those three don't need a teacher they need a therapist. I am not one, no matter how attached I got to the three brats," the jounin said with an air of regret and slight dejection.

"Hell, I knew it was bad, from the first time I saw them, but even I didn't see it all, obviously. As much as I like these kids, they shouldn't be shinobi, not with their problems."

A moment passed in silence. Asuma straightened looking at his father, who was simply observing him. For a moment the younger Sarutobi thought no answer would follow.

But the silence was broken.

"I completely agree," the Hokage said solemnly.

"Then why do this? Don't you see how dangerous, how irresponsible it is?"

"Then what will you have me do?" the elder Sarutobi asked, a little anger bleeding in his voice. "Would you have me retire them to a desk job maybe? Bar them from service entirely? Send them to T&I and throw away the key?" The Hokage half yelled, making his son flinch with the last proposal. He knew perfectly well how the permanent 'guests' of the torture and intelligence corps were treated.

There was silence in the room as both men visibly took control of their tempers.

"There simply isn't anything I can do. It is in my power, of course, to assign the children where I please, no matter what the council thinks" the Hokage said in a silky voice that hid a hint of steel. "But have you considered how the children themselves would react? Naruto would accept anything I tell him to do I know that but we both know he is a detergent. We can't allow him to be untrained and defenseless because as a jinchuuriki he is much too important"

"And I could never forgive myself if I didn't help him grow into a man his parents would be proud of," the Hokage said more to himself than to his son.

"Sasuke would also never accept anything aside from combat duty. If it appears that we are willingly limiting him, he will search his fortune elsewhere and Konoha can't allow that – the Uchiha are too important even in their sad state."

"While Sakura would probably do whatever she is told, I need her to act as a softening factor for the other two. They need someone who is at least semi-normal to guide them through situations they would have no knowledge of."

The Hokage sighed and started meticulously cleaning his pipe. He knew he needed to cut back on the tobacco, his physician had told him as much numerous times, but it was the only nerve soothing vice he allowed himself.

"And moreover it is as you say. The three are easily the most talented of their generation, despite them coming from a particularly talented batch of genin. Konoha needs to see that talent fulfilled. The Will of Fire must not be extinguished and they will be the ones carrying it most strongly to the next generation."

"So you are prepared to sacrifice these children, or at least their sanity, for Konoha?" Asuma asked in a deceptively calm voice.

"If needed, yes. You know that," answered the elder Sarutobi, a look of pain, undetectable to those who did not know him well, passing over his features.

"Oh, yes. Perfectly," answered Asuma, bitterness evident in his voice.

In the end though," continued the Hokage, "it is my hope that it will not come to that. Yes I want them to break, because after that they can be reforged, into something new, better. It is a task I am certain you are well equipped for. It is also probably the most important one you will face in your lifetime. Rising the next generation often is."

"Yes, we all know you have a great record in that," Asuma said, the jab clearly intended to be hurtful.

Surprisingly the Hokage simply nodded, acknowledging the point, but adamant in his reasoning nonetheless.

Asuma stared at his father for a moment longer, seemingly searching for something. He appeared not to find whatever he was looking for and dropped his head.

"Well, Hokage-sama, I will obey of course," Asuma spoke his voice even and unwavering, "I will push them until they break. Just don't be surprised if they don't turn out exactly how you want. I don't think you know them, not really. Not even Naruto," the jounin sighed and whispered his next words. "You were never the greatest judge of character."

"Anyway, I'll roll the dice and let them fall where they will. But know this – if things turn out for the worse, I will stand back, maybe even applaud the kids. I will stand behind them. And if Konoha burns, well that may be for the better, don't you think?"

"This is treasonous talk Asuma," the Hokage stated sternly.

"Oh I know that perfectly father. Good day." With a mock salute Asuma turned on his heel and exited the room, already reaching for his pack of cigarettes.

The old man watched as the door closed behind his heir. A small smile appeared on his face as he reached for a report that required his attention. A client from Wave had come, with a mission that could open up much prospective business for his beloved village.

"As expected of you, Asuma" the Hokage said to himself, his words filled with pride.

XXXXX

"So what do you think Hokage-sama and sensei are talking about?" Asked Sakura, as the three genin walked out of the Hokage tower, heading for their usual haunting place – the restaurant they had visited right after their genin test.

"Probably about our next mission," Sasuke answered, walking next to his friends and teammates nodding to the occasional greeting.

Naruto simply nodded in agreement, although both of his companions weren't paying him much attention. His face held a slight smile, which was his expression of choice when going through the village and dealing with people that he did not immediately know. He even practiced it in the mirror, wanting to look as unassuming as possible.

The image was somewhat ruined by his shinobi attire and the way he was fingering the hilt of his ninjato.

"Well, anyway, I'm sure we'll have a bit of time to train before we go, don't you think?" Sakura continued, chattering as she usually did. She was a generally cheerful girl and didn't like silence all that much, while her two teammates weren't the most talkative in the world. This left her with the arduous task of keeping the conversation going. "What did you two get up to yesterday? And did you feel that chakra surge that passed through the village? I heard that ANBU had caught someone who was trying to break in in one of their warehouses because of it, "she said, looking pointedly at her blond teammate.

"Hn?" Sasuke turned towards Sakura in interest. He had felt the wave of course, but it was news to him that it had had any real significance aside from giving him ammunition for ribbing Naruto at some point in the future.

"Yeah, I came early in the tower and some of the clerks were talking about it. Said that the thief probably wouldn't have been caught without it. Said it was a really big deal." Sakura rubbed her chin in mock thought and continued "Maybe I should report them to the Hokage. It doesn't seem like something you should gossip around genin."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, while Naruto studiously avoided looking at his teammates, instead choosing to stare straight ahead, a twitch showing that he was on the verge of breaking out in a real smile. Even in failure he was useful, it seemed. Although it was still pretty embarrassing that he had failed at all.

"So what were you doing to make that kind of chakra pulse? And please don't tell me you somehow learned about the thief and thought it was a good idea to just throw chakra at the problem until it went away, because if you did, you owe us all. I was bored stiff all day," Sasuke said with a smirk.

It was actually a lot embarrassing, Naruto found.

"Oh, speak for yourself. I had a great time! I got to beat up Ino. It felt even better than I thought it would," Sakura said, a smirk matching the one of her raven haired teammate on her face.

"Yamanaka-san?" Naruto asked, interested. "Why would you fight her?"

Naruto purposely did not ask if she had won, knowing without a doubt that even when rusty, as she no doubt had been, Sakura would win any fight with his fellow blond. After all, they were the elite of the genin of the village and Sakura, while not a direct combat type, was more than a match for the shrill girl he remembered from the Academy.

"Yeah, she kind of said that we just strolled along and did nothing on our last mission, even though I told her it was a C-rank and implied that it was actually much harder. She seemed like she was looking for something to fight about, to be honest. It was really insensitive on her, so I showed her the error of her ways," Sakura said, buffing her nails on her shirt.

"Tch, I knew she was dumb, but that's a bit too much," Sasuke said, shaking his head. "I'm surprised she didn't hear about what happened from her father. I'm pretty sure he's pretty high up in the information department."

"It does not matter. She was looking for a fight. She found it," Naruto said, cutting off further discussion.

"Yep, it was great, you should've seen it, turns out I'm actually pretty awesome!" Sakura giggled, pride obvious in her voice. "Anyway, what were you doing Naruto? I know you have a lot of chakra but that was a bit much for training, wasn't it?"

Naruto turned his eyes downward and blushed slightly. That surprised both of his teammates, who were accustomed to the blond's usual lack of emotional responses and became that more interested about the reason for the chakra wave.

"I was trying to suppress my chakra," Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke stared at his friend, while Sakura tilted her head to the side, a confused expression on her face.

"Care to say that again? I don't think I heard you right," Sasuke said, the smirk coming back to his face in full force.

Naruto sighed.

"I was trying to suppress my chakra," the blond said more clearly.

"Let me get this straight. You, our very own perfectionist, tried to suppress your chakra, but instead sent out a wave that actually disrupted a thief mid heist and covered probably half the village, if not all of it?" The last loyal Uchiha asked.

Naruto simply nodded, his face coloring some more.

Sasuke burst out laughing, closely followed by Sakura.

The expression on Naruto's face was most definitely not a pout, because shinobi did not pout.

"Only you Naruto," Sakura said in between fits of laughter. "Only you."

After a while Sasuke stopped laughing, eyeing his teammate with a calculative look.

"You'll show us, right? Stealth is important after all."

XXXXX

Sometime later, the team was joined at the restaurant by Asuma, who refused to talk about why he had stayed behind in his father's office. Instead he quickly ordered and started lecturing them much like he had the first time the four had come here.

"OK boys and girl, I've read through your debriefing enough times to already, so I'm not going to bore you with more questions. Instead I'll tell you what we'll be doing from here on out, as per the wishes of the Hokage," the jounin said, sipping from his pippin hot tea.

"We have a week of general training to polish out any rust you may or may not have gathered during your time of inactivity. We won't be working on anything new, just general taijutsu, yes Naruto and kenjutsu, drills physical training and such."

"After that one week we will be taking another mission. I'm not exactly sure what it'll be, but assume it's going to be hard, so no slacking off," Asuma said half seriously, knowing perfectly well that no one on his team had any idea how to slack off, or had lost it the moment they had become active genin.

"When we return, I have been ordered to prepare you for the chunin exams," Asuma said, raising a hand, stalling the excitement that was immediately visible on all three faces, especially Naruto's for some reason. "As you may know the exam is held in Konoha this year. You are being entered as a message. You are expected to outperform everyone."

"Let me repeat myself. You are to shine. You are to blow every other team, every other genin out of the water and show why exactly Konoha is the strongest village. There will be teams from non-allied countries coming to the exam. Install the fear of god in them."

"If you don't, well, you'll owe me and I will collect. We clear?"

All three genin nodded.

"Great! But well, that's a while off yet," Asuma said jovially.

"Now in keeping with tradition, let's talk about what you'll be learning soon."

"Naruto, you're good with the blade and we're going to keep your skill sharp. But if you're going to be a weapon's specialist, at least for now, you will pick up some more weapons and sharpen your general tool usage. I know you don't like ninjutsu very much, but you will learn some supplementary ones and implement the ones you already know into your fighting style."

"Sasuke, since you unlocked your Sharingan, we'll be working heavily on chakra control. You'll use the chunin exams to pick up as much jutsu as possible. With any luck we could even get something new for the village. Extra cash is never a bad thing."

"Sakura, you'll be working on rudimentary fuinjutsu, as well as trap making and strategy. I've given up any hope for those two, but I hope that at least you have a head for the most elegant of the arts of war."

All three genin expressed their understanding and continued eating after a dismissive nod from their sensei. The jounin himself smiled to the three finished his tea and left to look for Kurenai. He really needed a bit of relaxation and she was just the person who could help him with that.

XXXXX

Hoshi was one of the more popular destinations in River Country. That fact wasn't too surprising considering its reputation - it was a haven for gamblers, lovers of entertainment, both legal not so much, as well as what most would call immoral, disgusting and a variety of similar epithets. In short it had everything you would want to find, and most of the things you wouldn't want to find.

The prosperity of the city naturally led to some characteristics that were now considered natural for the inhabitants and the frequent visitors.

The first, most visual quirk was that the city was very bright and very lively. The buildings were tall, shooting upward in the sky, and well lit at all times. There wasn't a point in time when large groups of people couldn't be found walking through the streets.

There were no security checks to speak of, despite the presence of a well-trained police force. The city was open to all who wanted to have a good time. This laxness of security of course, invited all kinds of troublemakers and people of dubious morality. And while they kept their noses clean, they were welcome to spend as much time and money as they wished to part with.

The magistrate of the city was a well- liked middle aged man of scholarly reputation. It was a public secret that he took generous bribes from the "entertainers" in the city for allowing them to work on what was essentially his land. This kept his pockets well-padded and he wasn't afraid to give bribes of his own through the land. It was good business after all. He was in essence one of the most influential and wealthy men in the Land of Rivers.

Many gangs roamed the street, most dealing with gambling, prostitution and drug trade. And if they weren't obstructive to the business of the city and its guest, they were safe, even welcome to manage their chosen fields. For a fee of course.

Those who became obstructive did not have pretty ends.

XXXXX

Four completely unremarkable people were thus greeted by the sight of Hoshi late at night. The group consisted of one man and three children, two boys of similar height and one girl. They wore simple, sturdy clothing in neutral browns, all of which looked a little worn from traveling, but well-kept and cleaned. The man's face visibly hadn't seen a razor in some time. His hair was relatively short, brownish in color and somewhat grimy from sweat and dirt. His eyes were brown and shone with good humor.

The boys were entirely different from one another.

One had an expression of pure boredom on his face, with only the slightest twitch of his eye and mouth betraying that he was trying and failing to mask his anxiety and the intimidation he felt from the city in front of him.

The other boy on the other hand was smiling widely his face a picture of astonished delight as he looked around, clearly awed by the sight of people and lights.

The bored-looking boy had longish black hair that fell in a mop around his face. His eyes were also black. His face could easily be considered handsome, if it weren't for the thin layer of dirt one naturally gathered while traveling long distances on foot.

The other boy was equally dirty and his face was more boyishly charming than handsome, a feature that was further accentuated by his bright blue eyes. His hair was extremely messy, not long, but definitely not short, dark brown in color.

The only girl in the group was also wide eyed at the sight of the city in front of her, softly clutching the adult's shirt as she trailed behind him. She was definitely cute with her shoulder length hair which was the same shade of brown as the only adult in the group. Her eyes were a vibrant green in color, and she looked on in wonder at everything around her, chatting endlessly and somewhat nervously to the two boys, randomly pointing at buildings and people. She didn't seem to notice that the boys were paying her little to no attention. Or if she did, she didn't mind.

Only a person with deep understanding of the human body language would have noticed the calculated way in which the seemingly random movements were executed of the three children were executed, so as to have as much awareness of their surrounding as possible, while at the same time not giving away that they had any.

The only adult in the group was, unlike the children, looking straight ahead, a wide, cheerful smile on his face, the only indication that he had noticed the children at all being that he constantly kept an on them, presumably to prevent them from running off to parts unknown.

The four made their way to one of the more reputable hotels, which was stationed in the relative center of the town, without much trouble, aside from the occasional promoter of various establishments. All of the offers were politely declined.

The man rented two rooms from the slightly pudgy, extremely sweaty and very friendly owner, somehow managing to flash quite a sum of money in the process. The wad of money cemented him as a good customer in the mind of the owner.

The four left their modest luggage in their rooms, which were next to each other on the second floor, both with a good view towards the street outside. And then, surprisingly, all of the children started preparing for sleep, while the man went out.

None of them said a word.

XXXXX

Asuma, in one of his preferred civilian outfits, went downstairs from the room he had just rented, with very deliberate steps, perfectly adjusting his stride to what a civilian living an active lifestyle would have had. It was important to look the part when in disguise even when you thought that there wasn't anyone with significant power of observation around. It simply wouldn't do for a completely normal civilian carpenter to have the fluid and completely controlled movements of a seasoned shinobi.

Not for the first time Asuma wondered what exactly his father was thinking with this mission. Oh, he now had an idea of his general thought process, as deranged as it was, but this particular mission did not fit the pattern, mostly. A B-rank with the potential to become A-rank information gathering, capture or assassination wasn't something you would give to a relatively fresh genin team. Even when talking about his team, which was outside the norm, they were being trained as a heavy duty combat unit. While it was important they had at least basic skills in the general shinobi arts, he didn't see how this mission fit his father's plan for them. The three didn't have much of grounding in proper infiltration techniques, only the woefully inadequate acting and disguises course mandatory in the Academy. It wasn't like they had time to work on it before the mission too – the order to deploy came directly after their one week of training following the last fiasco and subsequent time off. It was as if the Hokage wanted the children thrown into the water, so that they may learn to swim, or drown trying. Which was a surprisingly plausible hypothesis, distasteful as it was.

Well it didn't matter in the end. Konoha shinobi had much more personal freedom than some of the other villages but to turn down a high ranking mission was frowned upon. When the mission was personally given by the Hokage, with the backing of the village council, it was night impossible to reject. And besides Asuma was the kids' teacher so he would teach the on the job if he had to. He'd make sure they didn't drown.

But now he had something quite annoying to take care of. He had to go introduce himself to the magistrate, the honored customer for this particular mission, without being noticed of course. He needed a paper trail here for himself and the children, just in case. He also needed a bit more information about the target of the mission. The only thing he really knew was that they were to find out as much as possible about the newest gang of the city especially their leader and if possible capture or assassinate him. It wasn't much but if he had to guess Asuma would put his money on the new gang deciding they didn't want to pay the magistrate and being better at hiding their members than average. Well not that it mattered. People who screened mission for a living have given their approval. If the mission didn't hurt Konoha it was fine.

It'd be good if things didn't go wrong this time.

Author's notes:
Shockingly, I updated. That is all.

Cheers,

Simon