As always, Kakashi was the dagger-shaped peg in a round hole.

Raidou took his time reading the evaluation, nodding as he went. Genma had an efficient way with the written word. Each report could be easily distilled into a basic idea. Ueno Katsuko: ready to grow. Tousaki Ryouma: talented but troubled.

Hatake Kakashi: exceptional and difficult.

ANBU rookies weren’t unbaked clay. They joined the ranks as jounin, with skillsets and focus already built in, every one of them capable of commanding a battlefield squad. They were the cutting edge, and only expected to get sharper. ANBU was designed to be the crucible hot enough to temper strengths, burn flaws out, and vaporize the unworthy, unwanted, or unlucky. Progression was expected, even this soon.

That undoubtedly went double for Sharingan no Kakashi, who carried the dubious distinctions of ‘genius’ and ‘Hokage’s protege’. Everyone knew he was tapped for leadership. Why else would you make him a jounin before his voice had finished breaking?

Raidou had read the report of Kakashi’s first command, though. One destroyed eye, one dead Uchiha. Even with that, it had technically been a successful mission: the targeted bridge had been destroyed, and Kakashi had gotten the first transplanted bloodline in history. The Sharingan that had put his name on the map, and in the Bingo Book, and propelled Nohora Rin's medical career off like a rocket.

But underneath all that, there was still a dead young man. And there was Kakashi, who wouldn’t confer, delegate, or communicate. Who didn’t trust.

“We’re expected to advance him,” Raidou said at last.

Genma nodded.

“A lot of people are going to be very put out if we don’t,” Raidou said.

“A lot of people are going to be a lot worse off if we advance him too soon,” Genma said sharply. “Would you trust him in command of a team?”

“No,” Raidou said, and felt himself relax slightly. Why had he expected Genma to disagree with him? “I barely trust him to function with this one. Actually, no — that’s not quite true. I expect him to follow mission orders exactly, like I’d expect pulling a crossbow trigger to put an arrow in a target. I just don’t trust what he’d do on his own initiative afterwards.”

The village had wanted a weapon from Hatake, and they’d succeeded. As far as Raidou could tell, no one had considered what to do with a thinking knife next.

Genma rolled his neck until it cracked, and sighed. “Yeah. I guess that’s why I left that section incomplete. I don’t think there’s a class we can send him to, unless we bust him back to genin and make him learn the whole teamwork thing over from scratch.”

“Tempting thought,” Raidou said.

“We’d be risking a chidori to the chest if we tried, though,” Genma added.

“Which would defeat the point of remedial friendship lessons.” Raidou cracked half a smile and handed the report back. “For now, we should keep him as he is. It’ll do him some good to be held back for once.”

Genma shuffled the reports back together, stacking them on his desk. “So what do we put? ‘No immediate development plans beyond integrating with the team and learning to follow a direct order even outside the heat of battle’?”

“‘Agent is suggested to learn the difference between independent thought and pointless nitpicking’,” Raidou said. “‘Orders aren’t a game of find-the-loophole.’”

Genma laughed and took his senbon out of his mouth, holding it like a pen. “Perfect. Give me that wording again?”

“Maybe you should put it in your own words,” Raidou said, amused.

Genma flicked the senbon back between his teeth and picked up an actual pen to jot down a few quick lines on Kakashi’s report. At the end of each performance review there was one last empty section: “Agent Comments”. The next step was to have a one-on-one with the agent in question, or two-on-one if the captain wanted to step in. Raidou’s first captain had preferred to hold his own meetings separately. His second had liked the joint approach.

Genma would have to do it alone this time around. But Raidou had already said that once: I’m counting on you, fukuchou. It still applied.

And Raidou would damn well be back in time for the next reviews.

“I can’t think of anything else to cover,” he admitted.