Shikaku made a point of drifting to the mission room the next day. Just out of curiosity, of course. He was happily, firmly married and smugly aware that if he ever cheated on Yoshino, she'd easily have his balls for lunch, retired chuunin or not.
He just wanted to see why he'd never noticed Umino before.
He spotted him and studied him covertly. Ah.
Dressed in the boring uniform, his hair pulled back into a neat ponytail, Umino's sexy body was pretty much camouflaged. And especially now, when his cute face was suffused with something nearing deathly rage, it was easy to see why he was overlooked.
"GENMA…" Iruka was gritting out. Curious, Shikaku drifted closer.
"Mah…what, Iru-chan?" Genma purred.
"I've told you a THOUSAND times! STOP grabbing my ASS in front of the HOKAGE!" Iruka nearly screamed.
"Ok, ok. I'm sorry. No more grabbing your ass in front of the Hokage. Does that mean I can grab it when we're alone?"
"GHHGSH" hissed Iruka, clearly pushed beyond words.
Shikaku felt someone chuckling behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Inoichi leaning on the wall, watching the show. "Just beautiful, isn't he? I think that he could take Genma."
"Hmmm." Shikaku turned and studied the two. Iruka was backing a grinning Genma into the corner. It looked like Iruka was going to draw some serious blood. "I'm not sure. After all, Genma is ex-ANBU and a damn good assassin."
"My money would be on Iruka." Aoba piped up. He'd come in from the back room, holding a mission scroll in his hand. "Any time."
"I don't think so." Ebisu, following him, shoved his glasses higher on his nose. "I don't care how talented he is. No mere chuunin could take out an ex-ANBU jounin of Genma's level."
Iruka had Genma neatly trapped in the corner and was slowly drawing a kunai. The look in his eye was pretty scary. Genma was starting to sweat.
"What are we all doing here?" The sweet voice of the Hokage made them all jump.
"Trying to decide who'd win in a fight-Genma or Iruka, Hokage-sama." Inoichi said with a grin. "So far, we're evenly divided. Care to place a small bet?"
Tsunade grinned. "I'd take odds for Iruka. He's kind of scary, for a teacher."
There was a quick discussion on odds. They finalized the betting and then pretended to be discussing the weather, waiting for the outcome of the fight.
Iruka's hand shot out. He was pretty serious, the group realized.
Genma managed to block him. Then he counter-attacked.
A brief scuffle.
"IRUKA! GENMA! WHAT THE HELL…"
The group sighed. Shizune.
"This isn't finished." Inoichi said out of the corner of his mouth. Bet still stands. Clear?"
The group nodded firmly.