Disclaimer: not mine

Warnings: male/male, male/female

This is the beta-ed version, thanks to the amazing Lazy-Hime.

Chapter 1

The bar was lively and full, like every Friday night, or any other night for that matter. The bar was the main meeting point for shinobi to relax after missions or in between ones. There was a bar, a dance floor, several tables on the left side out in the open, and tables on the right side hidden and divided by partitions.

Kakashi's eye crinkled happily as he caught sight of his target in one of the booths. His long time friend, and fellow Jounin, was wearing his usual outfit. Shoulder long, brown hair half hidden by the hitai-ate that he wore backwards, senbon securely held in one side of his mouth, and brown eyes sweeping the room every so often.

They had been friends long enough for him to sit down at the table uninvited.

"Back so soon, Genma?" he asked jokingly. He didn't want to make his intentions too obvious; he was a ninja and after years of service it becomes a habit to never expose one's intentions. Genma knew that, he was the same.

"Yo, Kakashi! It's been some time since you graced us with your presence here. Hokage-sama keeping you busy?" Genma's voice was as cheery as ever.

"Not really," he replied, yawning.

The next couple of minutes were spent in silence, each waiting for the other to speak about what was really on their mind. Or in Kakashi's case hoping his friend would spill the news without him needing to ask for it.

"He's alive, Kakashi."

Kakashi closed his eye in relief.

"But he won't be for much longer if he keeps going on like that."

Any trace of relief Kakashi had previously felt evaporated at once.

"What do you mean by that, Genma?" he inquired worriedly, his voice harsh and hoarse.

"I'll tell you what I told the Godaime. He's going to burn out. At the moment he's like a top spinning wildly around his own axis. He's as damn near to invincible as anyone I've ever seen or heard about, but some day soon he'll get himself killed. And it will not be because he couldn't get out of the way of an attack, but because he simply won't have felt like avoiding it." The brown haired Jounin kept his voice level and low.

The look he sent his friend was both sad and pitying. He couldn't imagine training a team only to have to watch one turn traitor and back again, one continuously trying to catch the first's attention and declining all other offers for happiness and the last one hadn't returned to the village in years, hunting down whatever rogue nin was unfortunate enough to cross his way.

Considering the fatherly way Kakashi kept worrying about his former students he felt it prudent to not mention the fact that he and Konoha's most feared and infamous hunter-nin had become friends with benefits during his last mission. As perverted and laid back as his silver haired friend usually was about sexual relationships, Genma still strongly suspected the other would try to castrate him for deflowering his youngest student.

"How did he look?"

Ok, perhaps he would mention their relationship. Genma simply couldn't keep the smile off his face as he thought about his new lover's look.

"Damn hot," the leer in that statement could be heard loud and clearly.

Kakashi who had just taken a sip of his drink, choked. Genma laughed at the angry glare he was sent and continued, "He's one fine piece of man. He's a bit on the short side and deceptively slender. His hair is longer now and he wears it in a high ponytail. Don't know how his face keeps that bronze tan, since he's always wearing his hunter mask, but it looks like a more delicate version of his father's."

"You slept with him," Kakashi accused.

"And proud of it, he needs a lover," the brunette's voice was cheerful again, since they were back on a non-painful topic.

A masked hunter-nin stood attention in the Hokage's office. There had been an obligation tied to his otherwise unlimited freedom. He had to come back to Konoha to report to the Hokage at least once every four months.

It didn't mean he had to stay in Konoha for the night.

Tsunade looked at the young man across her desk. The hideous orange clothes were long past; the hunter-nin in front of her wore dark grey ninja pants and a crimson shirt.

"Take off your mask, Shinku," she ordered.

Obediently the hunter took the mask off, revealing a delicately shaped face, big almond shaped azure eyes and three distinct whisker marks on each cheek.

"Now what is that I heard about you coming in with a bloody, shredded shirt?"

The young man in front of her sighed and explained in the same unconcerned voice he always used nowadays, "I met a band of A-Level missing-nin in Earth country. The last one had a flashy earth-jutsu and I didn't feel like dodging. It's not like I'll get scars."

An unpleasant shock raced through Tsunade as Naruto echoed the exact words the Jounin she had sent three months ago to keep an eye on the blond shinobi used in his report.

"He's as sane as any of us, Hokage-sama. But if he doesn't find something to ground him soon, I fear that one day he won't feel like dodging an enemies attack."

"May I take my leave now, Hokage-sama?"

That was another thing that bothered her. The brat never called her an old hag anymore. She just wished she knew what had caused her little brother in heart to change so drastically. The only thing he knew was that he hated to stay in or near the village.

Well, not this time. He had been free to roam the world for the last four years. No more. She even had the perfect plan for keeping him tied to the village for the next year.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but you'll have to stay a bit longer. I haven't given you your new mission, yet."

She was sure the brat felt unsettled by her announcement, but he had become too good at hiding his emotions for it to show.

"You've been away for four years and have become one of Konoha's most infamous shinobi under your alias, 'Shinku'. It's been reported by other shinobi of the Leaf that foreign ninja won't even think about becoming missing-nin in fear of becoming your new prey.

"I believe it's time you pass your skills and experience on to the younger generation. The Genin exams will take place a week from now. You'll be given a team and train them for as long as I deem it necessary. Understood?"

How she wished to see the fire of earlier years to come back into those icy azure eyes. She knew that he hated the new mission, since having a team of Genin meant staying in the village. Yet he didn't protest her orders. He simply nodded, bowed and left the office through the door.

TBC

Shinku--dark crimson

AN: Feed my muse ;-)