"I suspected Mori would be the first to figure it out," Inoue-sensei commented in a tone of weary amusement. "No, scratch that. I knew in advance, as an unmistakeable, rock-hard fact, that Mori would be the first to figure it out, which by the way is something you boys should take some time to reflect on."

Hazō and Wakahisa exchanged pained glances. After several seconds' silence, Hazō, conscious of his responsibilities as sort-of team leader (and, more to the point, aware that Wakahisa was a coward), decided to bite the kunai.

"Figure what out, Inoue-sensei?"

"I told you ages ago that my elements were Water, Lightning, and Wind kids. You wouldn't think it's a hard combination to remember—it's got 'storm' written all over it. Which would have been a totally badass nickname, incidentally, but sadly for me, Captain Ayanami got there first. Though, then again, 'Heartbreaker' has it beat for subtlety.

"Anyway," she flicked her hands as if dismissing the train of thought, "given this fact, why in the name of the Mizukage's embarrassing mess of a haircut did you just smile and nod when I told you I knew Earth and Fire techniques?"

Wakahisa finally found his tongue. "But why would you—"

"Because I was afraid that, in defiance of all probability, Shikigami's little insurrection had taught you nothing. When a superior tells you something, you listen, but you engage your brain as well, and you do the work to check if it matches what you already know. Sometimes, they're just testing you. Sometimes, they've got something wrong, and if you don't tell them, you've screwed over your entire team. And sometimes, your superior's sending you on a suicide mission, and if you don't pick up on the little clues in time, there won't be enough left of you to feed the sharks. Kids, I appreciate the trust, really, I do, but you've got to know when to be good little soldiers and when to think for yourselves.

"We're not a genin training team here. We're partners in crime. And if you trust me to be right all of the time, you won't be there to catch me when I fall."