*Author's notes: Hello again! I hope you all had a good holiday season. Here is chapter two for you all. Enjoy. Naruto and characters belong to Masahi.

The heat was almost unbearable, and it was only midafternoon. Though clouds covered the sky, it was muggy as all hell. Genma had been sitting under a large tree at the edge of training ground 16, waiting for his new Chuunin sparring partner. He'd been there for almost half an hour, but he didn't have anything better to do so he didn't see it as a big deal. Though he would probably pretend to be pissed once the kid showed up; that's just something elites did. His senbon twitched in his mouth as he thought of just how angry he was going to pretend to be. How much did he want to freak this kid out?

But before Genma could really begin to think too hard, he felt waves of erratic chakra coming from the western gate. Concerned, the tokujo stood and sprinted over. As he neared, he saw three forms struggling to stay upright.

"Shiranui-san," One of the injured shinobi called out weakly, and Genma recognized the voice as belonging to a Chuunin he'd been on a mission with about a month ago.

In an instant Genma was there. His spiky haired past teammate was bleeding profusely, and his chakra output was this constant pulsing mess, almost as if he couldn't control it. A second Chuunin was crumpled on the ground at the feet of the first, clearly in a world of pain and without the energy to stay on his feet. His breath came in wheezes and his body would be wracked with tremors every few moments. A third man was draped over the back of the first, his arms hanging limply over his comrade's shoulders. Genma couldn't sense any chakra output from him at all, which was highly concerning, and he was unmoving and unconscious.

"Hagane-san, what happened?" Genma asked seriously as he moved to pull the one Chuunin off the ground. As soon as his hands touched the other though, the youngster jerked away from the touch and pulled a kunai. His movements were slow and feeble, and he would have been dead if Genma was an enemy, but it gave the tokujo at least a small insight as to how wrong this squad's mission had gone.

Hagane Kotetsu let out a hiss as pain wracked through his system, then ground his teeth together. "It was supposed to be a B-rank, and hardly even that. Everything went to shit as soon as we got out of fire country. Help me get them to the hospital; I can't control my chakra enough to teleport, and even if I could I'm not sure I'd have enough to get all three of us there."

Genma easily knocked the kunai out of the hand of the grounded Chuunin, then hoisted the man over his shoulder. "I'll run this guy over and let the medics know. Someone will be here to help you as soon as possible," and with that, Genma teleported straight to the ER. He relayed what he saw to the nurses as the Chuunin was taken from him, and then Asuma was suddenly beside him with two injured Chuunin in his arms. As soon as they materialized, Kotetsu passed out. As his body crumpled and Asuma adjusted to hold two bodies of dead weight, the face of the third Chuunin became visible to Genma for the first time. The long scar across the cheekbones made the blond man flinch. There would be no pretending to be angry now.

Nobody noticed as the first few drops of rain smattered across the hospital windows.

Asuma came back to the table with two more bottles of beer, and he slid one towards Genma as he sat himself down. The blond popped the top off and took a swig before running a hand over his face. "That was brutal."

Asuma nodded and sighed heavily. "They're good kids. It's lucky they survived."

"You know them?"

"Hagane Kotetsu used to have a big crush on my sister. When she got engaged he was crushed, but he sent her the biggest bouquet of flowers I've ever seen, and even told her fiance that he wished them all the best. Since then, he's sort of shifted his attention to me. Treats me like a big brother or cousin or something. Kamizuki Izumo, the one you took, is with Kotetsu all the time. He's always been pretty quiet."

"I sort of know Hagane," Genma replied. "We've worked together once or twice. He's rowdy, but competent. Who's the one with the scar on his face?"

"Oh, that'd be Umino Iruka. My father's kept an eye on him since the Kyuubi attacks, so I know a bit about him. He's a troublemaker, but a good kid."

Genma chewed on his senbon, lost in thought for a while before he asked, "What do you think happened out there? They're greenhorns; Sandaime-sama wouldn't have given them anything too dangerous."

"I heard a bit of Kotetsu's verbal report. Sounds like they accidentally discovered a camp of missing nin near the border with Grass, and while they were trying to figure out what to do they were ambushed and taken captive. They were only held for a day or so before Umino somehow got them out, but the damage was done." Asuma's voice was gruff and grave, and his eyes were dark with thought as he took a sip of his beer.

"Missing nin?" Genma was surprised and disgruntled. "They going to send a squad to dispatch them?"

"Yeah. Hound, Tortoise, and Hawk have apparently already left."

"If three injured Chuunin were able to get away in a day, do they really require Hound out there? Those assholes don't seem like that big of a danger, considering."

Asuma shrugged. "It sounded like their escape had more to do with Iruka being ridiculously intelligent and feeling desperate than with the missing nin's overall incompetence. Kotetsu seemed pretty resigned to death. I say send Hound and make sure the bastards get what's coming to 'em. Better safe than sorry."

Genma shrugged slightly and his senbon twitched between his lips, his thoughts caught up on the fact that the scar faced Chuunin had been the one to get his squad out of trouble. He knew that Umino was younger than Hagane by at least a year, and had been a Chuunin for less time. "Who was the squad leader?"

"Kotetsu. It was his first mission as team leader. Kid wasn't ready. It's going to be tough making sure he isn't crippled by guilt or anything."

Genma made a grunt of agreement before downing the rest of his drink and standing, throwing some money on the table. "I better get outta here; meeting with Rai for some training in the morning. He'll kick my ass if I'm too hung over."

Asuma laughed as he lit a cigarette. "Yeah, no doubt. Take it easy. See ya 'round."

It was drizzling when Genma stepped outside, and it had been since he'd left the hospital two hours ago. The weather sure had been pretty strange for mid July. He wandered up and down the near empty Konoha streets, unable to stop thinking about that bronze skinned teen. How had such a newbie gotten his squad out of that mess? His taijutsu was strong, but in a hostage situation that generally wasn't enough and he hadn't shown any real skill in any other area when they were sparring. How had he done it? The kid had been pretty good with traps and such, but a lot of that takes planning and time; things that Umino hadn't had. Asuma had said the kid was smart, but brains needed capability in order to be of any use.

Genma looked up and was surprised to find himself in front of the hospital. The low rumble of thunder sounded overhead and the drizzle turned into more of a pouring. He didn't think too much about anything as he entered the hospital doors and began wandering the corridors, eyes peeled for dark hair and golden skin behind any of the doors.