The door opened soundlessly. Kakashi slipped in, rumpled with bedhead (which was distinguishable from his normal hair in that it was smashed slightly more sideways) but dressed in his ANBU blacks, and blinked once at Kuroda. “Vice-Commander?”

“Captain will suffice,” Kuroda said, strict but without any of the vitriol he’d shown Katsuko and Ryouma. “Fall in with your teammates, Hatake.”

Katsuko felt her gaze go hooded, like a snake’s. Kuroda was a political animal through and through. He gave respect only to those he thought he could gain from. Ryouma, who had no powerful relatives or connections, would be his scapegoat, then. Kakashi would be safe from Kuroda’s bullying, but the thought of letting Kuroda close enough to Kakashi to try and curry favor made her hackles raise.

Behind Kuroda, Genma’s eyebrows were rising at an alarming rate. Katsuko caught his eye and quickly schooled her expression into something less murderous.

Kakashi, finally cluing in to the tension surrounding him, glanced at Ryouma and Katsuko. Then he slid in between both of them and straightened into an actual approximation of attention.

Kuroda looked at Genma.

Genma nodded, thin-lipped with tension. His usual senbon was absent. His face looked strangely naked without it. "I'm sure you all know Vice-Commander Kuroda. He will be serving as interim captain for Team Six while Namiashi-taichou is away. It's an unexpected honor for us. Kuroda-taichou was a highly respected and decorated ANBU captain before he took the position of Vice-Commander. We're grateful he's able to take time from his work to focus on Team Six.”

The bald audacity of Genma’s lie filled Katsuko with a level of admiration she thought she hadn’t been capable of, but today was a day full of surprises.

Kuroda was too smart to be flattered by Genma’s introduction. "My philosophy is simple. Strength, discipline, service. ANBU is the foundation of Konoha's defense; without us, the village falls." He looked at each of them. "There is no room for weakness. If I find it, I will cut it out. You may not like my leadership, but you will improve under it. Any questions?"

There wasn’t any way to respond to that without actually having to interact with Kuroda, so Katsuko kept her mouth shut and her professionalism firmly on. Ryouma and Genma also decided that silence was the wisest course.

Then Kakashi raised his hand. “Uh, since three of us are injured, what are we supposed to do besides heal?”

To be fair, Kakashi hadn’t received the same warning that Katsuko and Ryouma had about Kuroda. To also be fair, a ninja at his level should have been able to read the room as soon as he slipped through the door. This lead to the conclusion that Kakashi either didn’t care, or he was having an off morning.

"For the next week, you will focus on healing," Kuroda said. He looked at Katsuko. "Since Ueno has an interest in expanding into the command track, I intend to find her some headquarter tasks that can be performed one-handed." For Ryouma, he said, "It's idiocy to believe an illiterate man can become a healer without being able to read medication labels or take notes. Therefore, the lieutenant and Tousaki will either prove to me that Tousaki can read and write an acceptable number of medical terms, or we can find them a project that makes better use of their time."

Ryouma’s shoulders stiffened and the normally tanned color of his face drained, but he bit his tongue on his response. Genma locked eyes with him and gave him a reassuring nod.

“Tousaki and I can begin work this afternoon,” Genma said.

“Don’t waste too much time,” Kuroda told them. Genma’s eyebrows looked like they were considering insubordination, but he acknowledged Kuroda with another nod and otherwise impassive expression. Ryouma set his jaw, mouth tight, and ducked his head.

Katsuko thought about calm, still lakes and how long you’d have to hold a man underneath the water’s surface to drown him.

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“I can transcribe for Tousaki, since I don’t have anything better to do,” Kakashi said. Ryouma gave him a startled look. Katsuko did as well.

Irritation flashed briefly across Kuroda’s face. Genma looked from Kakashi to Ryouma and back, assessing, and said, “We’ll discuss the details after this meeting, but I don’t have any objections.”

Ryouma regained a little of his normal color. He gave Kakashi a tight but grateful smile. Katsuko remembered what Kakashi’s handwriting looked like and blanched.

Kuroda nodded. "That aside, I anticipate this team being mission-ready within the next month. We will meet here every three days at 0900 so I can continue to evaluate you. I will also assign individual tasks as I see fit. Ueno, I want you to report to my office at noon tomorrow."

Katsuko had the sinking suspicion that ‘headquarter tasks’ meant she’d just become Kuroda’s glorified personal assistant. She gave him a crisp salute. “Sir.”

Kakashi copied her with the expression of a man who’d accidentally wandered onto a scuttled ship and had just now realized the water was up to his knees.

"I'll be monitoring everyone's medical progress in conjunction with Toshiro-sensei and communicating that to Kuroda-taichou,” Genma said. “With the exception of Tousaki, we will need to pass a fitness for active duty test before we can return to the field."

Very carefully, Ryouma said, "Do you recommend I postpone my knee evaluation, Shiranui-fukuchou?"

"Proceed with that as planned. Today or tomorrow for preference. Our window of opportunity for you to have that evaluated and treated while the rest of the team is on leave hasn't changed."

She didn’t glance down at Ryouma’s knees because she’d been trained better than that, but the automatic urge to was still there. Kakashi, who had no such compunctions, turned his head and gave Ryouma’s bad knee a blatant stare, brow creased.

“Yes sir,” Ryouma said, and saluted. He kept eye contact with Genma as he did so, subtly excluding Kuroda from his respect.

Kakashi, meanwhile, switched his bemused stare from Ryouma’s knee to Ryouma’s face. After a few seconds he turned his attention back to Kuroda, but not before his unspoken Why hadn’t you gotten your knee checked before? broadcasted to everyone in the room.

Kuroda waved a brisk hand. “It’s a weakness, Tousaki. Take care of it before it gets someone else killed.”

He swept out in clear dismissal before anyone could do more than blink. The door shut behind him with a final click.

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