“So,” Jiraiya said as he lounged back in his armchair, “how was working with the old bat?”

“Sir,” Sarutobi said uncomfortably, glancing from side to side, “are you sure you want to be saying that out loud? You know the stories.”

“Point taken.”

Jiraiya raised his voice.

“That was a term of affection!”

“I, uh, it wasn’t that bad,” Hazō said. “She was patient enough to correct all my mistakes, and she brewed me some tea—very bitter tea—during my break. Actually, I was going to ask: what does ‘sheep-swiving’ mean? And ‘addle-cove’? And ‘fumble-fingered jackanapes?’”

“What a woman,” Jiraiya sighed wistfully. “If she were sixty years younger…”

“Sir?”

“Ahem. I guess you’re not here to talk about the various merits of women. Which is a pity, kid—there’s a whole lot I could teach you. You should think about making that your next favour.”

Jiraiya lifted a pouch from beside the chair, and fished a few scrolls out of it.

“Here, as promised. Now, I felt like picking you a theme. See, when I was young and foolish, I thought it was acceptable for an elite shinobi to master less than all five basic elements, so I tried to make up for my lack of Wind with air-type seals. And that’s what you’re getting, complete with a few design notes I managed to scrounge up.”

He began to hand Hazō scrolls one by one.

“This first one’s the Tunneller’s Friend. We happened to coincidentally complete the research on it right after a Hidden Rock infiltration team disappeared in Fire territory. It’s got two active modes: absorption and release. The first stores up air from the environment. The second gradually releases it. The more active you are, the faster you use it up. Rock burrowers like to stick it inside airtight masks, but you and I both know restricting it to that is just tunnel vision. What? Don’t give me that look. I swear, some of my best material…

“Next up is Usamatsu’s Glorious Life-Saving Purifier. Usamatsu was an ass, and he didn’t realise until the end of his days that everyone else treated the name as a joke, but when it came to sealing, he really knew his stuff. One end of the seal sucks gas into a storage space in sharp bursts. All gas. In parallel, the other end pumps out air. Just air, no matter what else it sucked in. So if there was poison gas in it, that stays in the storage space forever. Except if the seal is destroyed and all that concentrated poison rushes out at once, which is how Usamatsu got himself killed."

“Can’t you just jump out of the poison gas cloud?” Hazō asked.

“Sure you can. And gas users know that. So they’ll pin you down first. Or catch you in an enclosed space. Or use gas that instantly sticks to your skin, or melts it. Or whatever. Always assume that the enemy is as smart as you are, kid.

“Next up, this is an alarm seal so basic it doesn’t even have a name. Normally I wouldn’t bother handing these out, because in Leaf even a beginner in sealcrafting knows a dozen variations of something so primitive.”

Kagome-sensei flinched.

“Set it up with your standard trap systems. When the enemy trips it, it wails at moderate shouting volume for two seconds and then shuts off. Twelve-hour duration or until triggered.

“Now, let’s move on to something a little more interesting. This one’s a toy of my very own creation, back when I had the time to invent seals as a hobby. Check this out!”

He held up a seal.

Hazō and Kagome-sensei both peered at it. To Hazō, it just seemed like another seal, but Kagome-sensei leaned in for a closer look.

“Where’s the tertiary nexus?”

Jiraiya grinned. “There isn’t one.”

“Bullshit,” Kagome-sensei spat. “I can see the dispersers from here. You’ve got to have a tertiary nexus, or the whole thing will blow up as soon as you infuse it.”

Jiraiya grinned some more. “Oh, it works. Trust me. I soloed the entire Sōon Clan with a bagful of these. Well, that and a toad the size of the Hokage’s Office. Best part? Without a tertiary nexus, there’s room for a modulator that lets you set the intensity at creation time.”

“That’s very impressive,” Hazō agreed on general principle, “but what does it do?”

“Sound dampener,” Jiraiya said as if it was obvious. “Low-range, but stick a couple of them next to your ears—I used some earmuffs a fangirl from Snow had sent me—and they stop you hearing any sound above the volume you’ve set. Version B, which you’ll find in the bag as well, cuts sound out altogether. You’ll be deaf, but that also means immunity to sound-based genjutsu and other fun things.”

“What’s its name?” Kagome-sensei asked as Hazō collected the design notes. “Can’t invent an original seal without giving it a name. Disrespectful.”

Jiraiya gave a solemn nod. “This is the Banshee Slayer.”

He took in the looks from everybody in Teams Inoue and Sarutobi.

“Hey, I was a teenager, OK? I thought it was the coolest name ever. And then it made Tsunade laugh her head off, and after that changing it would have been backing down."

He slumped in his armchair.

“Ah, to hell with all of you. Take the last seal and be done with it.”

“What’s this one called?” Hazō asked, trying to suppress a smile.

“The Silence Mine,” Jiraiya said in a low, listless voice. “And before you ask, no, it is not a mine, and strictly speaking it doesn’t silence either. We’ve all made mistakes in our youth.

“It’s a wide-area version of the Banshee Slayer. Turn it on, and it softens sounds—not as effectively, but well enough to make sneaking around easier. Have your stealthiest scout go ahead and put a few of these down, and then your lumbering ox taijutsu expert might not give you away as the rest of the team catches up.

“And then there was this one time Uchiha Satomi infiltrated the mint posing as an inspector, and stuck Silence Mines where nobody would see them. Once night fell, all we had to do was trigger them one by one and the rest of the mission was a cakewalk.”

Jiraiya looked into the distance, somewhere far beyond the solid walls of his office. “She was a special woman, was Satomi. She deserved better than what she got.”

“Sir?”

Jiraiya’s eyes refocused. “That’s five excellent seals. More than I normally give out to a team of your standing. Now, Sarutobi and his team know where your ninjutsu instructors are. So you know, the instructors aren’t cleared for your identities, so no names, backgrounds or all the other info you guys love to hand out like a new cult with a basket of pamphlets.”

Inoue-sensei nodded. “Kids, Kagome and I are going to do some shopping while you’re busy. Don’t worry, I’ve got all your requests written down.”

She turned to Jiraiya.

“Oh, no hard feelings about yesterday’s bargaining, right?”

Jiraiya chuckled, a little of his customary good cheer coming back. “Perish the thought.”

​ o-o-o-o

“Welcome, my child,” Hazō’s teacher smiled beatifically. “My name is Tsuchimikado Nana, but you can call me Mother Nana.”

“I, uh, yes,” Hazō said uneasily. “Nice to meet you.”

Mother Nana (not that he had any intention of calling her that if he could help it) was a brunette of indeterminate age dressed in thick green and brown leather armour, complete with a strategically-slitted long skirt. She never stopped smiling, which in its own way was as disturbing as an aura of killing intent.

“Now, what are you here to learn?”

“I was hoping for a tunnelling technique, or something to let me sense vibrations through the ground.”

“Vibrations?” Mother Nana said. “Yes, everyone should learn to sense vibrations. Be happy, my child, for I shall teach you the Living Roots Technique.”

“That sounds great. Thank you!” Hazō felt a wave of relief. Something definitely didn’t feel right about the woman, but that didn’t matter as long as she was prepared to teach him what he needed. He hoped.

“Now,” Mother Nana said, “let me demonstrate. First, you breathe in all the love and joy of the universe.”

She opened her arms wide, then slowly closed them into seal-making position.

“Next, you mould your chakra and send it through your feet to make deep roots in the earth, and up through your head to receive heavenly wisdom.

“Earth Element: Living Roots Technique…” she said gently as she formed the seals.

“Now, you reach out and feel the profound peace of nature extending all around you. Sense the tremors from the feet of others as they disturb that peace.” She smiled serenely. “Extend spikes of rock from the ground and rend the flesh from their bones, turning their viscera into a rain of meat and blood that feeds and nourishes the soil. Oh, but the rock spikes are a separate technique, my child, and I’m only contracted to teach you the one.”

She beckoned to Hazō. “Now, you try it with me. Breathe in all the love and joy of the universe…”

​ o-o-o-o

“Hey, there,” the young woman, tall and slim with pink highlights in her black hair, waved at Kei. “So you’re Master Jiraiya’s latest protégée, huh? Wow, you’re so young! I’m Aoba Minori, but my friends call me Minorin, and I just know you and I are about to become the best of friends!”

Kei was less convinced.

“Thank you for agreeing to tutor me in Wind mobility ninjutsu,” she bowed deeply. “I will endeavour to live up to your expectations.”

Aoba-sensei’s eyes widened. “Ohmykamikamikamiyouaresoincrediblycute!” she squealed, bouncing on the spot.

Kei looked up in alarm.

“Eek!”

She barely managed to dive out of the way as Aoba-sensei leapt towards her, arms open.

“Hey, where are you going? I just want to give you a great big hug!”

“I would really appreciate it if you stayed away from me!” Kei shrieked with her last shreds of composure as she picked up speed.

Behind her, Aoba-sensei was in hot pursuit.

“Come back, there’s no need to be shy!”

​ o-o-o-o

“So you’re the latest maggot Jiraiya needs whipping into shape, are you?” Noburi’s new teacher barked.

Noburi wasn’t sure whether he was facing a human being. Towering over him, at least seven feet tall and with biceps each bigger than Noburi’s head, every exposed inch of the man’s flesh was covered with scars, some deep enough to surely have been fatal.

“I am Captain Miyamoto. You will address me solely and exclusively as ‘Captain Miyamoto’. I will address you as whatever you deserve, which right now is ‘maggot’. Anything else, you earn. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir!”

“That’s ‘yes, Captain Miyamoto,’ maggot! Get it wrong again and you’ll be running laps around the Training Grounds for the rest of the day. Am I clear?”

“Yes, Captain Miyamoto!”

“Good,” the living mountain of muscle nodded. “Now, what kind of ninjutsu are you here for?”

Noburi had taken some time to think about this. He’d really wanted something flashy, something to make him stand out the way he ought to, but after the Arikada mission…

“Do you have anything that’ll let me cover my back? I got hit with a surprise attack last time I fought, and it knocked me out of the battle completely.”

“Ha!” Captain Miyamoto barked. “A good shinobi always watches his back. Looks like you’re not a good shinobi yet, maggot. But don’t worry. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll be faster than Hyūga Hiashi, smarter than Hatake Kakashi and tougher than Maito Gai.

“Now, the technique you’re looking for is called Hōzuki’s Mantle.”

He paused.

“Hold that thought. No way would a brat like you have the chakra reserves.”

“Oh, I really wouldn’t worry about that, Captain Miyamoto,” Noburi said. “Say, is that 'Hōzuki' like the Hōzuki Clan?”

“Huh,” Captain Miyamoto sounded a little taken aback. “You’re not completely empty-headed after all, maggot. That’s right. My team was on the eastern front during the war. One of those elite Mist all-clan squads thought they could end us, but we showed the bastards what Leaf training is good for. Oh, we showed them. And then after a little time in T&I, one of them coughed up this little gem. We decided to keep the name, so every time we use the technique, we’re spitting in Mist’s eye for being too weak to protect their secrets.

“What’re you squirming for, maggot? You’re not feeling sorry for those Mist scum, are you?”

“N-No, Captain Miyamoto!”

“Good,” Captain Miyamoto smirked. “Here, want to hear my favourite joke? How many Mist-nin does it take to refill an oil lamp?”

“I-I don’t know, Captain Miyamoto.”

“None! They’d rather cower in the dark like the cowards they are than risk facing the Will of Fire! Bwahahahaha!

“Here’s another one. Why should you never fuck a Mist-nin?”

It was going to be a very, very long afternoon.

​ o-o-o-o

“Hi, Akane,” Hazō staggered into the room, collapsing on the nearest chair.

“Hazō-sensei? Are you all right?”

“I am filled with the love and joy of the universe. Also nausea. How about you?”

“I’m… fine, thanks.”

The two looked at each other.

Suddenly, a sense of absolute awkwardness descended on Hazō. He knew, intuitively, without a shadow of a doubt, that whatever he said next would be the wrong thing to say, and would embarrass him in front of her and make her reconsider her feelings. He knew that this would be true irrespective of what he said.

In the back of his mind there was the awareness that Akane was still Akane, and nothing had actually changed between them except the admission of things which had been true all along, but for some reason this didn’t help.

Time passed in silence, until at least Akane seemed to screw up her courage.

“I think this is normal, Hazō-sensei. Changing your relationship sort of… resets things. Not literally, just in terms of… what this feels like. It’s supposed to get better eventually.”

Hazō nodded gratefully.

Akane put a finger to her lip thoughtfully. Akane’s lips were another part of her Hazō had never considered. Now he was considering them, and he could feel himself starting to blush again. He wondered if Inoue-sensei knew any techniques for not doing that all the time.

“Is there anything purely factual we can talk about?” Akane asked. “Something where you don’t have to wonder if you’re saying the right thing?”

Hazō smiled. “Now you mention it, I think I can do one better. I got up extra-early in the morning to do this—which, now I think of it, might help account for the nausea—but here, listen.”

He pulled out his flute. Akane gasped softly.

Hazō raised it to his mouth and began to play the Senju and the Uchiha’s first meeting. The deep, heavy swings of his glaive served as a counterpoint to the quick, playful stabs of her shortswords, starting out discordant but gradually falling into a perfect steady rhythm.

Akane leaned back against her pillow, rested the back of her head on her hands, and closed her eyes.

​ o-o-o-o

With one last breath, the low tones of the Senju’s passion interwove with the sudden, high, agonised joy of the Uchiha. The music pulsed with the Uchiha’s final heartbeat, crescendoed as their lips pressed against one another’s—and then the song cut off with the finality of death.

Akane wiped the tears away from her eyes.

“That was… that was perfect, Hazō-sensei. How could you learn it so well so quickly?”

Hazō gave a modest shrug. “I told you—I had a lot of opportunity to get good at the flute while I was home alone all those years.”

“Any more hidden talents I should know about?” Akane teased.

“Hmm,” Hazō feigned intense thought. “Well, I’m not sure I should be admitting this to you this early in our relationship…”

Akane leaned forward attentively.

“… but I happen to be very good at making lists.”

Akane burst out laughing. It was a sound he could listen to forever.

“Speaking of keeping things hidden,” Hazō said, “do you think we should tell the others about us? I mean, it’s fine if you don’t, I don’t want to be insensitive to your feelings, not that I’m saying it takes sensitivity to accept how you feel, I mean, assuming you don’t want to tell them, whereas—”

“Hazō-sensei,” Akane interrupted.

“Sorry.”

“You should tell them. I do wish I could be there, and see all their faces. But there’s no way Dr Yakushi would let us have an all-team meeting here, and I think it would be too long to wait until I’m discharged.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I think it will make them happy.”

​ o-o-o-o

The day was over. Kagome-sensei was gazing at his Akimichi Lore cookbook as if it were his own child, Inoue-sensei was fiddling with her hair, Noburi was in the yard outside performing some very violent taijutsu exercises, and Keiko was practising moulding chakra.

“Noburi, Keiko,” Hazō called them over, “could you come in here? There’s something I want to talk to everyone about.”

Noburi nodded mutely. Now Keiko was coming closer, Hazō could hear that she was muttering something under her breath over and over.

“Keiko, are you OK?”

She gave him a hollow stare. “I must master the Vacuum Step faster. My running speed is insufficient. I must master the Vacuum Step faster. My running speed is insufficient. I must master the Vacuum Step faster. My running speed is insufficient.”

Hazō gulped.

“A-After you.”

Once everyone was gathered, Hazō began.

“Guys, there’s something I would like to tell you all. The truth is, Akane and I… have started dating. I think.”

Inoue-sensei beamed. Noburi laughed. Kagome-sensei looked bewildered. And the light returned to Keiko’s eyes.

“Before we congratulate you,” Keiko said in a level voice, “or commence appropriate celebrations, there are formalities that must be completed. First, which of you confessed your feelings to the other?”

“I did,” Hazō said, confused by the sudden serious atmosphere. “Though it was close to simultaneous.”

“Second, did any member of the team present you with unsolicited romantic advice?”

“No, they didn’t. Why would they?”

“Third, did any member of the team present you with solicited romantic advice which encouraged you to be the one to confess, or proposed a time frame for such confession?”

Did Inoue-sensei’s advice count?

“Inoue-sensei didn’t say it outright, but I’m pretty sure her advice led me to confess to Akane sooner rather than later.”

Inoue-sensei winced as Noburi and Keiko gave her very cold looks. “I regret nothing.”

“Finally,” Keiko continued, “have you acquired a breeding license from Jiraiya?”

“A what?” Hazō goggled.

“I will interpret that as a ‘no’.

"To summarise, Hazō confessed his feelings first, before leaving Leaf. However, Inoue-sensei has been disqualified for cheating, and Pandā's presumption that Hazō would need to acquire a breeding license before confessing has been proven incorrect. In other words, nobody wins the bet.

“How tragic,” she added in a deadpan monotone.

“Now, with my role as administrator fulfilled, Hazō, I would like to formally congratulate you on this long-overdue development. It is my hope that the two of you will enjoy a stable and fulfilling relationship.”

“What she said,” Noburi agreed. “Can’t believe you of all people managed to overtake me in the dating game. Teach me your secrets, O ‘Hazō-sensei’!”

Hazō laughed.

The inevitable hair-ruffle descended on him while he was distracted.

“Nice going, little Hazō! I knew you wouldn’t screw this up! Tonight, Kagome will be making your favourite dish, Mountain-style spiced noodle soup!”

“Inoue-sensei, that’s your favourite dish.”

“Details, details,” Inoue-sensei flicked her hand in the air. “The important thing is that everybody’s happy, right, Kagome?”

But Kagome-sensei’s mouth was still opening and closing like that of a fish. “Y-You and Akane? Are you serious? How did this happen?”

Hazō’s friends’ laughter lit up the room better than any lamp.

​ o-o-o-o

After a while, the merriment had quietened down, and Inoue-sensei had subtly nudged Noburi in Keiko’s direction. With the two engaged in conversation, and Kagome poring through his supplies in search of spices, Inoue-sensei was on her own. It was a good time to talk.

Hazō studied his target, readied his weapon, took a deep breath and engaged.

"Uh, Inoue-sensei, I just wanted to tell you that your new hair... style looks superb. It, uh, frames your face... accurately, and, well, it draws my eye down your left side, which I assume is the side where you don't keep your weapons, thereby unconsciously making me less likely to notice your weapons. Oh... but maybe your weapons are on this side, because now I am searching your right side for the weapons and don't see them at all! So, that's a great double blind... unless you aren't carrying weapons at all, and this was all to make me spend precious time on looking for weapons when, really, your greatest strength is your genjutsu."

He risked a look at Inoue-sensei’s face, on which an unreadable smile was dancing.

"Anyway, is that a good way to do a sincere compliment? Not that I just said that because I want to practice for Akane, although that is an ulterior motive, but it in no way, I assure you, detracts from the fact that your new haircut really is nice. And somehow very puzzling in terms of what it means for you being armed."

Inoue-sensei giggled. “Yep, full points for sincerity. Now you just need to work on every other part of what it means to give a compliment.

“Listen up, Hazō. First off, a compliment needs to be elegant. If you can’t fit it in one or two sentences, then it had better be both mindblowing and emotionally context-appropriate, which are both likely to be outside your reach right now. Give me a two-sentence compliment.”

“Inoue-sensei, your eyes are very attractive, whatever colour they may be at any given moment. They are vivid and have a nice shape.”

“Hmm,” Inoue-sensei considered. “Progress. Draw attention to a general feature, then elaborate on what makes it good. Next you need to learn to refine your compliments. Distracting your listener with ambiguity or unnecessary words dilutes the effect.

“Also, what do you mean, whatever colour my eyes may be? People’s eyes don’t change colour, unless you’re an Uchiha or something.”

Hazō stopped dead in his tracks. “Inoue-sensei… what colour are your eyes right now?”

Inoue-sensei gave him a disapproving look. “Green. They’ve always been green, Hazō. I’m a little insulted that you never noticed.

“Now, give me a focused compliment, with no waffling.”

“I—I, uh, think you have excellent taste in clothing. It always balances attractiveness and functionality.”

“Mmm. Now we’re getting somewhere. Give me some more compliments, and let’s see if we can’t turn you into a proper ladykiller before the hour’s out.”

​ o-o-o-o “And that, Inoue-sensei,” Hazō said in his best heartfelt-but-not-trying-too-hard voice, “is why I think the oval of your face provides a perfect frame for features that together rend the heart like a blade of unbearable beauty.” Yes, he was internally mortified, but he would see this trial through to its terrible end. It was for Akane.

“H-Hazō?!” Keiko stuttered, coming in at the worst possible moment.

Crap.

For an instant, everything balanced on a knife edge.

“ComplimentpracticewithInoue-senseieverythingisforAkanedidn’treallymeanawordofit!” Hazō explained in his best emergency rapid-fire, praying that Keiko’s brain the size of a continent could disentangle the syllables before she ran off.

Keiko relaxed. “Would it have been so complicated to warn me in advance that you were planning to perform training exercises? Ah, not that it is of any personal relevance to me what you two do together. I only ask for the sake of practicality.”

“Well, now you know,” Inoue-sensei said wearily. “And Hazō, ‘didn’t really mean a word of it’?”

“I was in a hurry and not thinking straight, Inoue-sensei. Of course those were all sincere compliments. Except insofar as me complimenting you makes Keiko uncomfortable, in which case they were all blatant lies.”

Now Keiko was looking as weary as Inoue-sensei. “Thank you for your subtle and sensitively-expressed display of concern for my feelings, Hazō. I am going to go help Kagome with cooking now.”

“On a completely unrelated note,” Hazō hastily changed the subject as Keiko left, “I wanted to ask you about talking to Jiraiya about Dr Yakushi.”

“Oh?”

“Well, while I still think we owe Dr Yakushi for saving Akane’s life, so we shouldn’t rush to any conclusions, it does seem like he’s putting a lot of effort into learning as much as he can about us. And if you’re right, he’s extremely good at it. I remember what you said about the possibility that he’s using Akane as a hostage to ensure our good behaviour, and even if the risk to her is small, that’s still unacceptable.

“It’s possible that he’s following orders from above, in which case we have no recourse. But if he’s doing it on his own, then telling Jiraiya might increase scrutiny of Dr Yakushi—which is fine if he’s innocent—or otherwise help keep Akane safe. I think we need to make it clear to Jiraiya that Akane is extremely important to us and we won’t let her be put in danger. Given she’s now a Leaf ninja, I’m sure he’ll feel the same way. What do you think?”

“I think it’s a good move,” Inoue-sensei agreed. Hazō let out a breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding in.

“If Yakushi is acting on official orders," she went on, "then Jiraiya might give us the cold shoulder, but that's still information. If Yakushi isn’t, then going through the proper channels is the most effective way of dealing with him from our position. Of course, if Jiraiya doesn’t take us seriously, that might hurt our standing with him, but at the very least it’ll plant the seeds of doubt in his mind.

“Let’s go find ourselves an escort.”

​ o-o-o-o “So as you can see,” Inoue-sensei finished her description, “we have every reason to be worried. You know my background, so you can appreciate that I know what I’m talking about when I say that Dr Yakushi is trying to manipulate us, to unknown and possibly hostile ends.”

Jiraiya clicked his tongue. “Inoue, did you really drag me away from my long-awaited evening saké for this? ‘Help, Big Bad Dr Yakushi is being too nice to us, with his cunning diabolical scheme that I spotted the very first time we talked’?

“Yakushi Kabuto is a trusted Leaf shinobi, vetted at the highest levels. He’s got clearance rankings you aren’t even allowed to know exist. If he’s indulging his academic interests in a way that makes him of more value to Leaf, more power to him.

“And if he’s trying to be clever about it, well, of course he is. He’s a ninja. In case you’re forgetting, so are you.

“Now unless you have actual proof that the doctor who saved your comrade’s life is out to get you, kindly find something better to do with your time.”

Hazō gritted his teeth. This was as far from the response he wanted as it was possible to get. “If you trust Dr Yakushi, sir, then that’s fine. Like you say, you’ve had much more opportunity to test him than we have. But if that trust means you’re not even going to check whether what we’re saying is right, and Dr Yakushi turns out to be a threat—even if it’s only to us, and only in this one case—then you’re putting Akane in danger. And you need to understand something. Akane is precious to me—to us—and we are willing to go pretty damn far to keep her safe.”

A flicker of something (disappointment?) passed across Jiraiya’s face. He made a hand signal over his head.

Six masked ninja appeared around him out of nowhere.

At the edge of Hazō’s vision, Inoue-sensei was turning pale.

“Kingfisher,” Jiraiya said mildly, “remind me of the ANBU protocol for dealing with a credible threat to a senior Leaf official from an unaffiliated party?”

“Sir! Immediately disable all targets and relocate them to a secure detention facility. If disabling is impractical or risky, eliminate as many as necessary.”

Jiraiya nodded as if listening to a report on the weather, then said a single word.

“Proceed.”

“Wait!” Inoue-sensei screamed.

Slowly, with her arms out and away from possible weapons, she sank into a dogeza bow. After a second’s hesitation, Hazō decided that this was definitely a time to do as Inoue-sensei did.

“Please forgive my absolute idiot of an apprentice, and please forgive me for not teaching him better than this. He and Akane started dating yesterday, and she is his first love, and it is only his adolescent hormones that are driving him to be suicidally protective of her. He doesn’t really know what he’s saying, and I and the rest of the team would never let him step out of line.”

Jiraiya’s expression softened a little.

“Proceed,” he repeated.

“Lion, Salamander, Hawk: rendezvous with the guards at the guest quarters and retrieve the rest. Be careful with the sealmaster—let his teammates persuade him to come quietly.”

A pair of handcuffs clicked into place around Hazō’s wrists as he was led away.