Work Text:
It’s an informal tradition for the jounin instructors to gather during the exams to await the results of the Chunin exams.
In Konoha, the first phase of the exam is a winnowing process, much like the final test jounin conduct after taking a team fresh from the academy. The first phase is a psychological test because it prevents those of weak will from entering the more serious, much more deadly second phase. Other villages think they are soft, but Konoha does not like useless waste. Even a career genin has value to the village.
The second phase is where things get serious. Anyone who takes on a genin team faces the possibility of losing a student, or even an entire team to the exam.
It helps to be around others.
Hosting the exam means there are many more teams from Leaf than usual, so the jounin instructors split off into smaller groups. Naturally enough, those leading the rookie teams form their own little cohort, gathering together at the dango shop.
The place is small, but it has private rooms which is the only reason it won out over Yakiniku Q. It also has a much wider selection of alcohol should things go wrong.
Asuma sits next to Kurenai, both of them wisely sticking to tea for now. Kurenai isn’t a huge fan of sweets, but she’s gone through two servings of anmitsu already, and is working on her third. He makes a mental note that she’s a stress-eater, which might prove useful at some point.
Kakashi has his nose buried in the first Icha Icha, and his seeming indifference serves to make Gai even louder in his declamations about how all of Konoha’s youth are sure to prove themselves.
Asuma really, really wishes they hadn’t agreed to wait on the alcohol, because while Gai is a good guy, he is irritating as hell under the circumstances.
Someone taps on the shoji door before it slides open, and all of them turn to see the Godaime standing at the threshold. He’s wearing his robes of office, although the hat is nowhere to be seen.
Asuma automatically assumes the worst. There should be no reason for the Hokage to show up now, unless it is to bear bad news. He stops breathing, wondering if he’s awful for hoping that Godaime is there for someone else, and not his team.
“There’s no news yet,” Itachi says immediately, and the room begins to breathe again. “At least, not through the official sources.”
Kakashi chuckles, lowering his book. “And unofficially?”
“I’ve come to ask for a favor about that,” Godaime says.
“Come on in and ask,” Kakashi challenges.
Most people would consider Kakashi inexcusably impertinent, shading too close to the line of disrespectful.
Most people hadn’t been raised by a Hokage. The office should be respected, but under all the trappings of grandeur, there is a person.
So Asuma can be informal as well.
“Come on in. Do you like dango?” he asks, pushing his untouched order toward the Hokage.
He’s not imagining the slight smile on the younger man’s face.
“I’ll trade you,” Godaime says, settling down before pulling something very large out from one of the robe’s copious sleeves.
He has a very familiar crystal ball in his hands, using a swath of dark silk fabric to avoid leaving fingerprints.
“Would you mind scrying?” he asks, holding it out for Asuma to take.
Asuma isn’t sure what to say. His jaw drops slightly, and he remembers to catch himself in time to keep his cigarette from falling out. Why would the Hokage ask him, when he can do it himself? Or make Kakashi do it?
“Me?” he asks, feeling a bit stupid.
“We all have different strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, while I can use it, it does trigger my Sharingan which can be distracting when trying to scry,” Godaime replies, and flickers his Sharingan on-off for the briefest of instances to emphasize his point. “I’ve found that people without dojutsu have better results.”
Which leaves out Kakashi, and while Gai could channel chakra, his exclusive focus on taijutsu didn’t make him a good choice. Asuma glances at Kurenai, who smiles encouragingly.
“Fair enough,” he agrees, taking the crystal.
Itachi manages to snatch the dango simultaneously, taking a position slightly outside of the group.
It’s strange to be staring into the crystal ball that his father spent so much time with. Ever since he was a child, he remembers watching Sandaime - his father was always Sandaime while in his office - using it to keep an eye on the village. He hadn’t been allowed to touch it, since the crystal was worth the price of ten S-ranked missions. Because of its value, it had been purchased by the village to be held for the Hokage’s personal use.
Somehow, seeing Godaime handle it is even stranger than seeing the youngster in the Hokage’s robes.
He doesn’t let himself mull too long, since this is an opportunity too good to pass up. “Tomegane no jutsu,” he mutters, forcing chakra into the ball.
The jutsu isn’t a complicated one, but it requires a lot of energy and acquaintance with the target. It can only be focused on a living being with chakra of their own. Almost immediately, an image of Shikamaru appears, hiding in the bushes with Ino and Choji. They’re covered in leaves and dirt, but otherwise appear normal.
“They’re hidden pretty well,” Kakashi says, and it’s a compliment.
That was the other strength of this jutsu. The crystal will allow others to perceive whatever the caster sees in its depths.
“Best thing for an Ino-Shika-Cho team to do,” Asuma agrees, proud that they’ve at least listened to that part of his training. There’s heavy-hitter teams in the exams, the kind of shinobi that work better at shock troop missions than the cloak and dagger ones preferred by the traditional ninja. Ino-Shika-Cho work best from the shadows, and Asuma wagers to himself that Shikamaru has positioned Team Ten close to the tower.
Like spiders, they’ll wait for someone to fall into their web. It’s the best chance of capturing another scroll they’ll have.
Being a shinobi on a mission is ninety percent waiting for the exact right moment. But it’s going to make for boring viewing.
Had Asuma been alone, he would have settled down with a cup of tea and pack of cigarettes and spent the day watching his team, anyway. But there are other genin, and without a word he shifts his focus to Kurenai’s girl.
This time the crystal’s image is slightly more confusing, and he blinks a couple of times as he gets used to the motion. The girl’s eyes are wide with the Byakugan, and she smoothly jumps between the trees.
It takes a good ten seconds to understand what’s going on. The girl is in the middle of a formation, with the Inuzuka and his ninken as vanguard and the Aburame playing rearguard. They’re moving well, at a quick but not wearing pace, pausing every so often to communicate with hand signs and then minutely adjusting course.
“Search pattern,” Kakashi comments.
“They have sensed a target they believe they can take,” Kurenai explains.
Asuma does not let himself get distracted by the suspicion that it’s his team they’re after. While Kurenai’s team is filled with heirs of legendary clans, they are young. There are not many teams in the second stage that are easy targets, and there are very few that Kurenai’s team would have enough intelligence about to pursue so quickly.
Ino-Shika-Cho is one of two obvious choices. While the Chuunin exam is theoretically a proxy war between villages, most of the teams are focused on individual success rather than advancing the village’s power as a whole by taking out foreigners. Kurenai’s team would be smart to go after the other Leaf rookies based on what they know.
If Shikamaru is taking the exam seriously (and Asuma suspects he is because Ino will refuse to let him do otherwise), Kurenai’s team might learn a lesson in relying too much on mistaken assumptions. The battle won’t be an easy one for either side.
At least it will be nonfatal. None of them are killers yet.
Even though he wants to check back in on his own team, he moves the vision along to Kakashi’s. He only knows one member of that team well - everyone knows the fox brat - so the sudden glare of orange as he shifts his focus isn’t a surprise. He winces as he sees Kakashi’s “soldiers” wearing red, white and orange in the middle of the Forest of Death. Inconspicuous, they are not.
Especially with the way they are yelling at each other.
A more skilled scryer than Asuma would have been able to transmit sound, but the visual alone indicates they are in the middle of an argument. Sasuke and Naruto are squared off, with Naruto flailing dramatically and Sasuke standing stockstill hands folded over his chest.
The girl is off to the side slightly, but from her body language, she is backing Sasuke.
Kakashi’s sigh echoes through the room. “My cute little genin remain true to form.”
“Don’t they realize how serious this is?” Kurenai asks, and she is genuinely shocked. “Nominating them was a mistake, Kakashi.”
Asuma wishes he could break eye-contact with the crystal ball to look at Kakashi, even though the Copynin is unlikely to display a reaction to Kurenai’s censure. But the jutsu requires his focus, so instead he watches in astonishment as Sakura springs to action, hitting Naruto upside the head with a fist.
Hard.
“They’ll survive,” Kakashi answers, and for once he doesn’t sound like he’s blowing off the criticism, but speaking from genuine belief. “They faced off against Zabuza Momochi. It will take more than a chunin-level contestant to take them out.”
“My rival is so hip!” Gai wails.
Kurenai will not be dissuaded. “Their teamwork is non-existent. You’re putting them at risk for no good reason, since none of them are ready to be chuunin.”
“My team learns best under pressure,” Kakashi replies. “And there’s certain lessons that only experience can teach. Not every test is about passing.”
Asuma is surprised that Kakashi put such thought into the nomination. He’s going to have to use that excuse himself should Kurenai want to know why he put Team Ten forth. Admitting the truth - that he is terrified of what Ino will do if she doesn’t get her way - won’t win him any points with Kurenai.
It is never good to make a Yamanaka angry. They can fuck up your head.
There is movement in the background of the crystal, but Team Seven is too busy arguing to notice. Asuma shifts the focus slightly to get a clearer picture. Before he can interpret what he’s seeing, a cold voice cuts through the racket of the jounin teachers’ squabbling.
“Be quiet,” Itachi suddenly says, and it is the Hokage speaking.
There is a man in the trees, dressed in a patterned cloak. He is old, too old to be a genin participating in a “friendly” chuunin exam. It takes only a split-second for Asuma to notice the headband with the slash marring the Takigakure symbol.
Kakashi swears, and Kurenai’s quick intake of breath indicates she sees it too.
“We’re under attack,” Itachi says, and a second later Asuma hears the unmistakable sound of a summoning.
“Go to the tower and raise the alert. Make sure they send for both the ANBU and Jounin. We’re going to shift operations here, since we can’t move the scrying ball. If Shisui is around, tell him to come here immediately. Otherwise, everyone is to form up into four-man teams and encircle the Forest until further order.”
A bird caws, and the sound of flapping wings indicates that the Hokage’s summons is on its way.
But Itachi isn’t done.
“Kakashi, take Gai and Kurenai with you. I want you to act as a strike force. Go in there and terminate the intruder. The intruder is an S-Class missing nin, and there is reason to believe he has a partner.”
Asuma tried not to twitch at being left out, but he knows why Itachi isn’t including him. Intelligence is a major part of what helps win wars, and he has inadvertently tied himself to the stupid crystal. He is a man of action, but for now he can best serve by funneling the Hokage up to date information.
“Yes, sir!” the other jounin teachers declare as they pull themselves to their feet, ready to obey orders.
But Itachi offers one more caution, one that makes Asuma’s blood freeze in his veins.
“Whatever you do, make sure that he doesn’t get his hands on Naruto… and if you can’t do that, make sure the Nine Tails isn’t released.”