"This way," calls Dad as he shifts a box higher in his arms. "Your mother wants these further back so there will be room to put your grandparents' things in here when grandpa moves in next week."
Choji makes a noise of understanding and moves to grab one of the other boxes they'd spent the afternoon sorting through while cleaning. This one contains old photo albums of his dad and mom's life before Choji. After he does, he starts to follow his dad only to feel something stick to the bare sole of his foot.
Pausing, he moves the box to one arm and bends down to see what's attached itself to him. He unpeels what feels like tacky paper and blinks when he sees it's a picture of a gaggle of children. Choji squints when among the twelve or so faces he cannot make out his dad or his dad's lifelong friends.
Who are they all then?
"Choji," Dad says from where he's rearranging his boxes across the room. "Please stop dawdling."
"Sorry!" he returns as he tucks the picture away in his pocket. He'll wait until they're finished to ask his dad about it. His mom was adamant this chore needed to be done today or she would not be cooking their favorite dinner this weekend.
Finally, after another forty minutes of shuffling and organizing boxes and currently unneeded furniture and weapons, Choji and his dad gather up what they plan to get rid of and leave the backroom of their home. Choji follows on his dad's heels to the garden where they pile up old, unneeded papers, moth-eaten clothes, and a broken chair to burn. As he crouches to light the pile on fire, out from Choji's pocket slips the photograph he found earlier.
Quickly, he snatches it up to safety and finishes setting his family's junk on fire.
When done, he falls into place beside his dad and looks up at the large man. His eyes are focused ahead on the fire, keeping a careful eye on it lest it gets out of control. Choji elbows him in the stomach.
"Hm?" he says as he lowers his gaze to him.
"Dad, what's this?" asks Choji as he presents him with the picture of the children.
The man plucks the picture from his hand only to grin once he sees the whole breadth of it. "This is a photo of my students and the students of several others who were also Jonin teachers at the time," Dad explains. He leans close to Choji and points at a black-haired boy smiling at a black-haired girl. "Do you recognize him?"
"Erh," replies Choji, squinting at the child.
His dad laughs. "That's your teacher," he tells Choji. "He looks quite different without his beard, doesn't he?"
He blinks in surprise and takes the photo back to study it closer. "Yeah," he murmurs. "Asuma-Sensei really does. Is the girl Kurenai-Sensei?" he asks.
"Yes, that's her."
With more care than he gave it initially, Choji studies the picture. It's a little hard because people do change in appearance from when they are children, but he ends up being able to identify a few more of the kids. The boy with the bowl cut is definitely Gai, one of his dad's students. The two to Gai's left must be Genma and Ebisu. Ebisu, much like Gai, really doesn't look overly different. He wears the same style of glasses even now as an adult.
"Hey, who's this little one?" Choji questions as he spots a white or gray-haired kid half-hidden behind a brunette girl with markings on her cheeks. His head is turned and he's glaring up at a goggle-wearing boy beside him.
Dad grins at him. "Ah, that'd be Hatake Kakashi."
Choji sputters. "Hatake Kakashi?" he echoes. "He can't be a genin like the others, he's so little!"
"He isn't," replies the man as he takes the photo again. "Kakashi was a Chūnin when this was taken." He sighs, the sound a mix of wistfulness and regret. "He was the prodigy of his generation."
"Wow," awes Choji as he compares Kakashi to the other children. He has to be younger than the rest by at least a couple of years. Maybe even more. He tugs on his dad's sleeve. It's more than impressive to learn he was a Chūnin during this photo's taking. It's intimidating.
Choji is so relieved Asuma is his teacher and not Hatake Kakashi. He can only imagine how much harder it'd be to learn from a man who'd been so much more advanced when he was Choji's age. He bets the man has ridiculous expectations for his students. Ones Choji couldn't meet in a million years.
Choji shakes his head. "Hey, can I take this and show my team?" he pleads. "They won't believe that boy is Asuma-Sensei."
Dad chuckles. "I suppose so," he agrees.
"Thanks, Dad!"
-O-
Forehead-to-forehead, the three of them create a circle around the photograph Choji brought to training with his team. Shikamaru scratches the back of his neck with one hand while patting his leg with the other. "Huh," he mumbles. "Looks weird without his beard."
Ino huffs and kicks across their little circle at Shikamaru's shin. "No, he doesn't," she argues. Face softening, she sighs. "He was a cutie as a kid."
Choji wrinkles his nose. "Gross, Ino."
The kunoichi flushes. "Shut up, you!"
"Hey, hey, what are you three squabbling about now?" calls out a voice from behind.
The trio scrambles out of their huddle and into an uneven line. Choji, still holding onto the picture, attempts to hide it in the back pocket of his shorts. "Nothing, Sensei," he says, tone plaintive and eyes wide with feigned innocence.
Asuma-Sensei rolls his eyes."Right," he huffs. Stepping towards him, he holds out his palm. "Hand it over, Choji."
Reluctantly, Choji places the photo in his teacher's hand. The man blinks curiously at it as he pleads, "Can I have it back later? It's my dad's."
The man's thick fingers curl around the edges and he all but presses it to his chest. "This is," he starts only to stop and cast shifty eyes at the treeline around their training ground. Bending in close, an odd light in his eyes, Asuma-Sensei asks Choji, "Would your dad mind if I borrow this? I need to show it to some others."
He frowns at his teacher and crosses his arms. "Um, sure?" he says after giving it a moment of thought. He trusts Asuma-Sensei will get it back to his dad in one piece. That's all that will matter to the man. "He'll understand."
Asuma-Sensei grins like he's finally won against Shikamaru in a game of Shogi. "Thank you, Choji," he says.
Choji frowns harder.
-O-
"You left it with him?" says Dad, eyes fluttering wide.
"Yes," replies Choji. He pauses, chopsticks laden with pork hovering in front of his lips. "Was that the wrong choice?" he asks.
Dad breathes out through his nose while Choji chews and swallows his piece of pork. "Time will tell," he declares at last. His dad then pushes himself up from the dinner table and begins to gather his empty dishes to take into the kitchen to wash.
"Dad!" Choji cries after the man. He ignores him and Choji lowers his gaze to his half-finished bowl of rice. Picking up the little blue bowl, he shovels the content into his mouth. Then he springs to his feet and yells again, voice muffled by the rice he's yet to swallow, "Dad!"
-O-
Asuma works his jaw as he shows up at the field he agreed with his students to train at today. It still aches a bit from that left hook Kakashi got him with at the bar the night before. He suspects it will for a few more days too.
He's lucky he didn't lose a tooth.
His students, when they see him, pale. "Are you okay, Sensei?" Ino asks, a hand hovering next to her chin like she's experiencing sympathy pains in her own jaw from the sight of him.
He smiles only to wince at the sting it causes. "Fine," he answers, strained.
"You have, uh," stammers Choji with big, worried eyes.
He exhales. "I know," he grumbles.
"What happened?" demands Shikamaru with atypically sharp eyes.
He weighs the pros and cons of telling his students he got into a bar fight with Kakashi over the picture he borrowed from Choji. It'd probably be irresponsible to share that info. He's supposed to be setting a good example for his students, after all. "Tell your dad Genma has the photo and will be returning it to him soon," he says instead.
"What happened?" repeats Shikamaru, his typical blasé tone replaced with one full of exasperation.
Asuma can't help himself. "The baby couldn't stand the reminder he didn't spring to existence at six feet tall," he all but spits as he recalls the argument leading up to the hook. "Genma's working on some revenge," he adds, hoping it might settle the kids to know he's not just standing by after being attacked.
"…Who is the baby, you think?" he hears Ino murmur to the other two.
It's on the tip of Asuma's tongue to tell her. Kakashi doesn't deserve his protection. He also thinks it would be hilarious if a new generation comes to know Kakashi by his most hated moniker.
"Kakashi-Sensei," replies Choji before he can answer.
Asuma fights back a grin. He wonders if Chōza referred to Kakashi as such to his son. It wouldn't surprise him at all. It wasn't just their generation calling Kakashi the baby (though, when they were young, their elders had enough tact to only use that nickname when they thought they were out of earshot).
"What?" gasps Ino with surprise.
Shikamaru, however, nods like it all makes perfect sense. "He was that shrimp in the picture, wasn't he?" he asks.
Choji dips his chin. "My dad said he was his generation's prodigy."
"That's right," breaks in Asuma. In response, the kids jolt. He rolls his eyes. The three weren't quiet and he took a fist to the jaw, not to his ear. "But enough of that," he declares. "Let's start, shall we?"
-O-
Kakashi pays the kids warming up no mind. He's found his mark and that's all that matters right now. Putting his decades of training to use, he sneaks up behind his fellow shinobi. The only one of his students who notices is the Nara when he turns his head slightly in the direction of his teacher.
He barely pauses in his stretching, however, and quickly turns his attention away from Kakashi and Asuma. He then helps Kakashi (and himself) out by suggesting a cloud in the sky looks like a duck.
He and his teammates fall into squabbling and Asuma groans. Behind his mask, Kakashi smirks. The other shinobi doesn't know it yet but he is soon going to face greater troubles than breaking up a stupid argument between a group of teenagers.
"Asuma," he hisses.
The man stiffens and Kakashi swears he can see the hairs on the back of his neck stand. "Kakashi," he replies in a falsely cheerful cadence. His greeting draws the attention of the kids. All three look over, the Nara's expression is leery while the other two are gobsmacked to find him all but pressed into the back of their teacher.
Kakashi leans in even closer; masked lips nearly pressed to the other man's ear. Usually, Asuma is an ally. For that, he will give him a headstart. If Asuma is lucky, he will stay out of Kakashi's reach long enough that Kakashi won't be quite so angry when he catches the man and lays into him.
"Run," he whispers.
"Shit," swears Asuma.
Then, as if he's just had his pants lit on fire, he legs it across the field; his girl-student has to jump back to not be bowled over by the man. Kakashi counts to five in his head and then follows after Asuma. As he runs past the other's students, he hears the Akimichi boy whine, "We're not training today, are we?"
No. No, the kids would not be. It was very likely his own brats won't be either. Asuma has, since they were kids, gotten quite good at keeping ahead of Kakashi and hiding. It was going to take the better part of the day to exact his revenge.
-O-
Sakura lifts her head when Naruto springs to his feet and shouts, "Hey, hey! Shikamaru! Choji! Ino!"
"Hi, Naruto," replies Ino with a smile. She next tips her head to Sasuke and then to Sakura. "Sasuke, Sakura."
She propels herself to her feet to stand beside Naruto. "What are you three doing here?" she asks her rival and her teammates while dusting her hands off on her hips.
"Just checking in," answers Ino loftily. She frowns and looks down her nose at them. "We're pretty sure training is canceled for us today," she admits. "How about for you guys?"
Sakura purses her lips, annoyed and confused. Why is their training being canceled related to her team's own? She exchanges glances with Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto blinks his confusion while Sasuke gives a minute shrug. She holds back a sigh.
They don't know any more than she does, it seems.
Still, Sakura is reluctant to let on to their cluelessness. So she flicks her hair behind her shoulder and replies, "Well, we haven't hit Kakashi-Sensei's record for lateness yet, so…"
Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru share a series of silent but expressive looks. When they finish, Choji asks, "What's the record?"
She grimaces. Sakura had hoped they wouldn't ask. While Kakashi-Sensei's tardiness is not their fault Sakura can't help but feel like it reflects poorly on all of them. "An hour and seventeen minutes," she confesses with no small amount of grudgingness.
The trio flinches at her answer. "How long have you waited already?" demands Ino once they've recovered.
She almost says she doesn't know but then thinks better of it. "Sasuke," she calls out, drawing his dark gaze to her from where he's still sitting on the ground beneath the shade of one of the tall trees that line Training Field Eleven. "Do you know exactly?" she inquires after he quirks his brows. If anyone's been keeping track it's him. That's why they know their record wait time.
"Hn. Fifty-six minutes," he answers.
"Ooph," replies Ino. She tilts her head away and remarks, "Also, I could be wrong but I don't think he's going to turn up today."
"No?" says Naruto, face scrunched. "Why?"
"He's busy chasing Asuma-Sensei," Choji answers.
Sakura pulls back in surprise and confusion. "Why is he chasing your teacher?"
Choji melts. "I think it has something to do with a picture I lent Asuma-Sensei yesterday," he admits, expression guilty.
She stares, struggling to understand. Why would a picture have Kakashi-Sensei ditch them in favor of hunting Asuma-Sensei? Was it an embarrassing one? It must be. As much as their teacher liked to make them wait, he had not ever left them in the lurch before.
"What was the picture of?" asks Sasuke, voicing the question also on Sakura's mind.
Ino smirks. "It's of our teachers and some other shinobi when they were new genin. Your teacher was the youngest," she explains.
Naruto yelps at this news. "He was!?"
"Yeah, my dad told me he was a prodigy," Choji agrees.
"Do you have this picture now, Choji?" asks Naruto, eyes wide and hopeful.
"No."
Naruto pouts. "Aw."
The other boy grimaces at Naruto's reaction. "I might know who does?" he offers.
"Oh yeah?" replies Naruto, perking right up at the news.
Choji nods. "My dad's old student, Shiranui Genma," he answers. "Asuma-Sensei told us he gave it to him when he showed up for our training."
Naruto wriggles in excitement. "Do you," he says, "do you think he'd show us it if we asked?"
"I mean? Probably?" answers Choji with an emphatic shrug.
Naruto darts forward and grabs onto the larger boy's wrist. "Then what are we waiting for!" he yells. At her and Sasuke, he waves an arm, and cries, "Come on!"
Sakura exhales. "Shall we?" she asks her last teammate.
"Hn," he agrees, rising to his feet and putting his hands in his pockets.
-O-
"Sorry, kids," says Shiranui Genma around the senbon in his mouth. "Already passed it onto Gai."
Sakura, alongside Naruto and Sasuke, shrinks in disappointment at this news. "Really?" Naruto asks with big, shining eyes.
Genma blinks, utterly unbothered by Naruto's dewy eyes. "Yep," he answers. "It's safer with him for now." He then smirks. "I'm sure your teacher's already figured out Asuma doesn't have it anymore."
Sasuke narrows his eyes at the older shinobi and frowns. "Are you playing keep away with our teacher?" he questions.
Genma's eyes flash with something Sakura thinks is mirth. "Something like that," he hedges. Then, grinning, he curls a finger at them, urging them to step into his apartment. "I got something else you might like to see, though."
"Oh yeah?" asks Naruto, stepping forward without so much as a second of thought.
Sakura grabs his sleeve. She doubts Genma has any ill intentions for her teammate but that's still not a good reason to let the knucklehead get ahead of them. The man chuckles at their behavior and steps aside. "Come on," he urges. "All six of you will like this, actually."
"Yeah?" asks Ino as they file into the apartment.
"What is it?" Naruto questions as Sakura takes in the apartment.
It's small. One room. Definitely a bachelor pad and empty enough that Sakura doesn't think Genma spends much time in it. Whether that's because he has a girlfriend he prefers staying with or because he's frequently gone on long missions she can't tell.
Her study is interrupted by a hand on her shoulder. Jumping, she looks up only to have Genma wink at her. Kindly, he herds her toward a desk that the others are already amassed around. Leaving her beside Ino, he wades through the boys and unlocks a drawer on his desk. Sakura watches fascinated as he reaches beneath pens and paper to lift what she realizes is a false bottom.
"You kids might not know this, but Asuma was kind of an irregular playmate for Kakashi before Kakashi started at the Academy," the man explains as he pulls out a piece of paper that's gone a bit brown around the edges.
"He was?" murmurs Naruto with surprise.
"Yup," replies Genma as he unfolds the paper to reveal an old photograph. Sakura covers her mouth. "Kakashi's dad was well-acquainted with the Sandaime's students and the Sandaime liked to use them to babysit his kids from time to time." Genma grins as they jostle and tug each other to get a look at the photograph. "Sometimes, things lined up just so and Asuma and Kakashi would end up under the care of one of the three Sannin at the same time."
Finally, Sakura shoves Naruto's head down enough she can see what the others are already awing and oohing over. The photograph, as she suspected shows a very little Kakashi-Sensei and little Asuma-Sensei.
Asuma-Sensei is sprawled out on his back, arms splayed above his head as he snores in his sleep. Curled on his stomach is Kakashi-Sensei. His face is half-hidden by a scarf and his tiny, dimpled fingers grip Asuma-Sensei's shirt, rucking it up enough to reveal part of his belly.
"Wow!" she breathes as Ino coos:
"Aw, they're practically babies."
"Oh man!" says Naruto between snickers. "Sensei was still hiding his face…"
"Genma, where did you get this?" Choji asks as he takes the picture to look at more closely before passing it to Shikamaru.
The shinobi shakes his head at the boy. "Sorry, Choji, can't tell you," he says. "If I reveal my sources my well of blackmail will dry up in no time."
"Why are you showing us this?" demands Shikamaru with furrowed brows as he hands the photo over to Ino who is pawing at his shoulder.
"Just as clever as Asuma's told me, I see," Genma teases. Eyes gleaming, he asks, "How would you kids like to help me with a little prank?"
"Hell yeah!" shouts Naruto, pumping a fist into the air.
Sasuke is much more subdued but shows his own interest in the idea by crossing his arms and inquiring, "What is this prank?"
"This picture is just the original," explains Genma. "I've got a few dozen copies here," he explains as he goes over to his bed and reaches beneath to pull out a shoebox. "It'd be really helpful if you could go hand these out to everybody you meet on the street."
Sakura shares a series of looks with her team and Ino's. She doesn't think any of them really get why this would be a prank. It's a cute photo. What about sharing it with everybody they meet will be funny?
"Sure, I guess," says Ino on their behalf. "But what's so funny about this?"
Genma sniggers. "It'll bother Kakashi, that's how."
All of them fall into a hush as they contemplate the validity of the older shinobi's reason. At last, Naruto nods. "Yeah. Okay," he agrees on all of their behalves. He tilts his head and scrunches his brows. "Why does it bother Sensei?"
Genma puts a hand on the back of his neck and exhales. "Oh boy," he murmurs. Fingers moving up and down his nape, he frowns at something above their heads while he thinks. At last, he lets his hand fall from his neck and to his side. "So. I don't know how much you actually know about your teacher but he's kinda…" he trails off and purses his lips. "Smug," he decides, nodding to himself. "Yeah. We'll go with that." Searching their faces, he remarks, "So he's smug, right?"
"Hn," grunts Sasuke to show the man they're following.
Genma makes a face before admitting, in an almost grudging tone, "Honestly, he has good reason to be. He's one of the best shinobi Konoha has ever seen. However, that doesn't change he's our generation's baby. Nothing he does is ever going to change that. Once in a while, it's good to remind him most of us remember him toddling around after us and dropping kunai on his and our toes because they were too big for his hands to hold. It keeps him from getting a big head."
Naruto squints at the jonin. "So it's good for Sensei?"
"A lot of us like to think it is," agrees Genma with a grin. He waves a hand and says, "Anyway, it's not that bad. Whenever we decide to pass around a picture or something it's just cute. Not embarrassing."
Sakura decides to exchange glances with Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto's eyes are sparkling and Sasuke cocks an inquiring eyebrow at her. She gives them a tiny grin before turning her attention back to Genma. "Can we keep one?" she asks with wide, begging eyes.
The shinobi blinks. "Of the pictures? Sure. Better hide it good, though," he warns. "He's a killer hunter and will find all of these given a chance and burn them."
Sakura beams while Naruto hollers his delight and shakes a not quite smirking Sasuke's shoulder. "We will!" she assures the man.
-O-
The three of them leap into the air when, from behind, Kakashi-Sensei bemoans, "Betrayed by my own students."
"Kakashi-Sensei!" cries Sakura as she spins around; the remaining pictures Genma gave them clutched to her stomach.
He peers down at her, eye narrowed into little more than a slit. "Give me those. Now," he demands, a palm held out to her.
Flushing, she ducks her head and places the photos in his hand. "Y-Yes, Sensei," she stammers.
He flips through the stack only to sigh. "How many have you given away already?" Kakashi-Sensei asks.
"Dunno. Half of them?" Naruto offers when Sakura can only bite her lip and shrug.
"Hn," concurs Sasuke, canting his head forward.
Kakashi-Sensei presses a hand over his eye. "Great," he grumbles.
Sakura hesitates because, usually, it's disloyal to sell out friends, but given the circumstances… "We're not the only ones passing them out," she says and Kakashi-Sensei's hand drops. His eye is glinting with fresh ire and Sakura cringes away. "Asuma-Sensei's team is too," she tells him.
"Of course they are," their teacher mutters under his breath. He then stuffs the pictures he confiscated into his vest and jabs a finger at them. "You three. Scram. If I catch you ever involving yourselves in something like this again you will pay during training, do you hear me?" he threatens.
"Aw, Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto whines but the man easily silences the blond with a look. He then turns and vanishes right before their eyes. No doubt off to go and find and threaten Ino and her team too.
When she's sure Kakashi-Sensei is long gone, Sakura leans in close to the boys and whispers, "You still have your copies?"
"Yeah," agrees Naruto, pulling out his photo from the back pocket of his pants.
"Hn," Sasuke says while presenting to her a few copies. He plucks one out from his collection and hands it to her. "Here."
She smiles. "Thank you, Sasuke," she says, face flushing from his thoughtfulness.
He looks away.
"Hey!" Naruto exclaims, tugging at Sasuke's arm warmer. "You still got two! Let's go tape one to Sensei's door."
Sasuke looks back at Sakura, head tilting. She giggles. It's actually a really good idea Naruto has. If they stick around for Kakashi-Sensei to find it, it might turn out to be the funniest thing they witness this month.
"We'll have to hide if we want to see how he reacts to finding it," she warns the boys.
Sasuke smirks. "I bet he tears it to pieces," he declares.
"I say he'll scream!" Naruto wagers.
Sakura turns her feet in the direction of Kakashi-Sensei's apartment. As she takes the lead of her team she suggests, "I think he'll turn around and go back to hunting for Asuma-Sensei."
Thank you for reading!