“We’re leaving at 1900 tonight. This is a coordinated strike—there are five other teams going out, and two of those are carving down to splinter-cells like us. The aim is to hit all targets at approximately the same time, the night after tomorrow. The Hokage has already bitten a chunk out of the network; his team assassinated the lord of Taishin province a few days ago, and they took casualties. One Intel agent killed, and Team Three is out of commission, two dead.”

Genma twitched. “Hajime?”

In the same breath, Ryouma leaned forward, fingers denting the metal of his tea can. “Team Three—that’s Ayane’s. Fukui Ayane. Was she—?”

The mission files were on Raidou’s desk. He’d been working the details from memory, but he grabbed it now, eyes skipping down to his handwritten notes in the margin. He knew Hajime personally, though not like Genma did, and had that answer ready to go. “Hajime’s injured, took a bad hit to the hip. Yondaime-sama was confident he’d be able to run again, but not for a while—Yondaime-sama’s student is overseeing his recovery personally.”

“Rin,” Kakashi said quietly.

Genma let out a breath.

“Munenori Rokurou and Akamichi Yuudai were the team casualties,” Raidou read, and closed the file. “Miyake Kei was the Intel agent. Nothing about Ayane, so I assume she’s fine.”

Well, probably not fine.

Ryouma gave a cracked laugh, overshadowing Genma’s quiet curse—Raidou hadn’t known the names, but Genma apparently did. “She would be,” Ryouma said. “Dammit… What happens to her now? If her team is dead?”

“Reassignment, probably,” Raidou said. “Hajime isn’t going to be mission-fit for a while. They’ll either fold Ayane into another team—filling in for someone injured or dead, if there’s a spot—or expand a team by another member. We don’t usually run teams bigger than five, but it’s not unheard of. She’s a rookie?”

Ryouma nodded once.

“Then she won’t be a floater, rookies always have a team.” Unusual to send a team with a rookie on it to back up the Hokage, but Konoha was stretched. And Ayane had come out breathing, so she clearly had the steel.

Or one of her dead teammates had covered for her.

“ANBU takes care of their own,” Katsuko told Ryouma quietly, eerie echo to Raidou’s thoughts.

Ryouma glanced again at Kakashi, and then away. His fingers tightened on the can, then he leaned down and set it carefully on the floor. “We’ll try not to open a space for her on this team, taichou.”

“You better not,” Raidou said briskly, “or I’ll paste you all over the afterlife. That goes for the rest of you.”

“Noted,” Kakashi said, dry as dust. Of everyone in the room he seemed the most unmoved by the fate of Team Three, but since he’d already played news-hound for Genma once, Raidou was pretty sure he’d already known. Perk of being the Yondaime’s former student.

“We’ll look after you, lieutenant,” Ryouma told Genma, making an obvious effort to sound light and teasing. “You don’t need to worry when you’re with us.”

Genma gave Ryouma a slow, measured look. “Well, that’s a relief.”

Raidou cleared his throat. “Moving on. Tousaki, you’re booked in with Hyuuga Noriko in the chakra ward. She’s expecting you as soon as we’re done here, since you’re going to take the most time. Ueno, you’re back with Ryouri-sensei, usual drill.” Katsuko made a pained face, but said nothing. “Shiranui, someone pulled a string in your favor because you’re getting time with Nohara Rin. She’s expecting you in an hour. Yondaime-sama advised that you should take her breakfast. Hatake, since the lieutenant's busy and I need to get polished up, too, you’re gonna run supply. Armor, masks, med-kits, soldier-pills—whatever anyone needs, you get it.”

Katsuko opened her mouth.

“That pertains to the mission,” Raidou said, before she could speak.

She cut him a dry look, which folded into serious thought. “I’m good,” she said at last. Sotto-voice, she added something aside about goats that Raidou chose to ignore.

Oddly, that made the tips of Ryouma’s ears turn pink.

Kakashi cleared his throat. “I need your sign-off for the quartermaster. Or the lieutenant's.”