Kakashi set the report down, took a silent breath, and tried to step aside from his raw pride. You couldn't twist away from failure. If it was in you, hiding in the shadows, then you could only drag it into the light. And burn it out.

Like all cautery, it lacked for enjoyment.

“I’ll give you the communication,” he said. “But I do practice chakra control.”

“I know you do,” Genma said. “You’d have to, to be as successful as you are. But I think you still have room to improve. Ueno has a similar issue. You could work with her.”

Kakashi restrained a twitch. Katsuko had issues where she blew up chunks of the landscape. Kakashi had issues where murderous psychopaths wouldn't die unless you hit them with everything you had, including actual lightning. It wasn't like he wanted to pour his chakra out everywhere. It was just... repeatedly necessary.

“Unless Ueno has a transplanted organ sapping her chakra, I’m not sure we’ll be much use to each other,” he said, attempting diplomacy. “But I’ll ask.”

Genma did not appear impressed by this logic. “Tousaki needs to improve his chakra control, too. Maybe you’d rather work with him? But I doubt Ueno has nothing to teach you about chakra management.”

Kakashi clenched his back teeth together, and said pleasantly, “I’ll ask both of them.”

“I can make it a group assignment if you’d prefer,” Genma said. “I’ll practice with you, too. I have some larger jutsu I could stand to refine.”

Diplomacy buckled under the sheer outrage of being assigned group work like an academy first year. Kakashi opened his mouth to excoriate the lieutenant— and paused. “Large jutsu?”

Genma took his senbon out, spinning it absently over the back of his knuckles. “Metal jutsu. I did one during the fight with Iebara, actually. Made his blades porous.”

So that was what Genma had done. Kakashi had seen the flicker of seals in the rain, felt his own weapons rattle. He probably had the jutsu stored somewhere in the Sharingan’s vault, but a detailed look was infinitely more valuable than a chaotic battle-memory.

“Would you share?” Kakashi asked.

“Sure,” Genma said. “When you’re recovered enough to use this.” He gestured with the senbon towards his own left eye. “I don’t know how easy it will be, but I can try to teach them to you. My friend Uchiha Masanori wasn’t able to master the one I showed him, but he’s not good with earth jutsu.”

“I’m earth-natured,” Kakashi said, which was more polite than your friend must be an idiot. Not all Uchiha were equally talented. “Have you created any other jutsu?”

“Yeah. Masa’s fire and wind. So you’ll probably pick them up.” Genma smiled slightly, like he enjoyed talking about jutsu just as much as Kakashi enjoyed taking them. “I have four.” He made a superstitious little sign. It looked like a man flicking prayer beads. ‘Bad luck, right? I need to invent a fifth.”

Kakashi leaned forward. “What do the others do?”

Genma didn’t take the bait. “I’ll show you when you’re well. It can be your reward for recovering.” He sipped his tea, nearly draining the glass. “Any other comments about your evaluation? Or questions?”

Kakashi sighed and glanced over the report again. As far as he could tell, ‘exceptional performance’ was what he considered standard operating procedure, and didn’t really deserve comment. Failed communication — yes, fine, he could talk more. A few dings about testing the ranking officers and looking for loopholes in their orders — well that just encouraged them to be clear. Rehab, medical fitness evaluation, some nonsense about improving his handwriting…

And that last paragraph.

“No further professional development plans,” he said.

“Becoming a good ANBU agent isn’t sufficient professional development for you?”

Kakashi considered that question from all angles, looking for the hidden traps. “No,” he said at last. “I want to be a superb ANBU agent, and take advantage of whatever professional development is available.”

“Mastering the basics is the first step,” Genma said firmly. “You’ve barely cleared thirty days as a rookie.”

Apparently that was plenty of time to find him lacking, though.