Genma’s fingers flicked. A buried glass vessel burst by Kakashi’s knee, releasing a sulphurous, blinding cloud of yellow smoke. Kakashi flung himself back, sneezing violently, and Ryouma tackled him to the ground with the kind of furious joy that suggested payback.

The dogs lunged around like a wave breaking inland. Genma snatched the pug out of the air, holding him by the scruff, and activated a second trap that brought the shepherd down in a welter of grappling vines. Raidou was starting to think his own presence was entirely unnecessary, when the wolf-dog reappeared.

Furious yellow eyes went from the dangling, swearing pug to Kakashi fighting on the ground. A growl started low and gathered violence. Teeth gleamed, fur ridged. Genma put an empty hand up, unwilling to draw steel on one of Kakashi’s summons, and the wolf-dog leapt for his throat.

Kakashi rapped out half a strangled command. The wolf-dog’s entire body cringed mid-leap, and Raidou hit it in the ribs, bringing it down at Genma’s feet.

Up close, the wolf-dog was furnace heat and wild fur. Long claws tore the ground up and heavy muscles tensed like iron under Raidou’s hold, but no teeth found his skin. He planted a knee on the creature’s straining neck and pressed down until it subsided with a bubbling growl.

When he looked up, Genma smiled at him through a collection of new bruises. “Hi, Taichou.”

Behind Genma, a flurry of leaves and mud ended with Kakashi on his stomach, both arms wrenched up between his shoulderblades and his face jammed in the dirt, while Ryouma triumphantly straddled the small of his back.

“Technically, this would be cheating,” Raidou said.

“No such thing as cheating at being a ninja,” Genma said, eyes glittering almost the same color as the wolf-dog’s. But where it had raged, Genma glowed with delight. He licked a droplet of blood away from a split on his lower lip, and strolled over to sit on Kakashi’s legs.

Kakashi growled something indistinct but clearly threatening.

“You said, ‘Help me hunt down the captain and the lieutenant’. And we found ‘em!” Ryouma said, riding high on victory and adrenaline and Kakashi’s spine.

Kakashi did not seem appeased by this little bit of legalese, if the rising barometer of killing intent was anything to judge by. The air was starting to have a distinctly red feel.

Pakkun, still dangling from Genma’s hand, swung gently around on his scruff to give Genma a flat, unimpressed look. “Now what, geniuses?”

“Now we wait out the clock, and then we get yakiniku for lunch,” Genma said.

Raidou discreetly checked his watch. There was still more than an hour left until noon. Three capable ANBU agents could keep Sharingan no Kakashi pinned that long, especially if someone had been smart enough to bring rope. Or they could negotiate an early truce.

“I’ll even put you down if you want,” Genma added.

The pug’s goggly eyes went to his master, paused on Ryouma, then back to Genma. “I give you six minutes.”

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to spend the last hour on some deep stretches, Raidou thought. They were all still recovering from the mission.

“We could call it early?” Ryouma suggested, without loosening his grip in the slightest. “I’m hungry."

Behind Raidou, vines parted softly.

In the fraction of a second before nearly seventy kilos of golden shepherd hit him in the back of the head, it occurred to Raidou that Kakashi really had done quite a good job of keeping their attention focused in the wrong place.

Then there was dirt, mulch, a couple of unfortunate tree roots, and a rock that tried admirably hard to take part of Raidou’s cheek off. He flipped over to grapple the shepherd, and the wolf-dog landed on him like a mountain.

On the other side of rib-bruising air loss, Kakashi said distinctly, “Tag.”

“Sonuvabitch,” Raidou gasped. Genma scrambled up to wrestle the wolf-dog — carefully — off Raidou. The shepherd lay down on Raidou’s chest in its place, tail fanning, and licked his face.

“Or two minutes,” Pakkun said, from next to Kakashi’s knee. “Now we can get lunch.”