Raidou, Genma, and Ryouma dropped down off the roof, went back inside, and clambered upstairs to stand around the ragged hole in the floor. Genma held up a glowing hand to cast some additional light through the dim room.

“Okay,” Raidou shouted. “Let it go!”

Chakra rippled and vanished. Rain hammered down, striking like handfuls of iron filings. The patch remained water-tight.

Raidou hooked his thumbs into his pockets and grinned. “One problem down. Nice work.”

Genma smiled and dropped a grateful hand on Ryouma’s naked, wet shoulder. “Thanks for helping with this.” He raised his voice. “Thanks, Hatake! You can come inside now.”

“You’re welcome,” Kakashi said, dripping two feet behind Genma’s back. Genma didn’t, quite, twitch.

Kakashi threw the recently abandoned shirt at Ryouma’s head. Ryouma caught it absently, stuffed it in his back pocket so that it dangled down, and looked around the loft with interest. “You could fit the whole team in here,” he said.

“In a loft with no air conditioning, no functioning bathroom, and no furniture,” Kakashi said. “Cozy.”

“The plumbing’s connected,” Genma said, with a sidelong look at their one-eyed beacon of cheer. “If you need to use the toilet, be my guest.” He gestured affably at the unfinished cage of studs framing one corner of the loft, which would eventually be a small toilet and a large bathroom.

Kakashi glanced at the gleaming porcelain fixtures and said dryly, “Thank you.”

Pakkun’s old-man-rasp drifted up from downstairs. “It’s hot. If we’re staying, someone needs to put a fan in.”

The little pug wasn’t wrong. The storm, for all that it howled fiercely, was oppressive and muggy. With the roof closed up, the air inside the loft was still. They were all soaked to the bone, but Raidou still felt like he needed a shower. Genma pulled at his own shirt-front, peeling nearly translucent cloth away from skin.

Ryouma studied the splintered hole in the floor. “Are we staying?”

“I’m game,” Raidou said. “Lieutenant needs a home. Hatake?”

Kakashi sighed. “Fine,” he said, and performed the strange little justu that pulled the water right out of their clothes. He dumped the extracted rain into Genma’s new tub — which was apparently where Kin had been resting, since she bounced up with a damp, offended bark.

Kakashi responded with an odd tonal growl. Kin snorted. Raidou decided not to ask. “Tousaki,” he said instead. “You in?”

“Hell yeah.” Ryouma hefted the toolkit he’d carried down from the roof, and slanted them a wicked grin. “I’m always up for nailing.”

Now it was Kakashi’s turn to snort.

Genma’s mouth stayed open for just a beat too long, then he said, “I really appreciate your, uh, all staying to help. I’ll send a clone to get us some drinks.”

“And a fan,” Pakkun yelled. “Three fans!”

“And an electrician,” Raidou said. “There’s a woman between Enomoto’s barbershop and the bookseller who’s good — Goto Akari. Try her first.”

“Probably no fans until we get the electricity fixed, but I’ll bring back ice,” Genma said. He glanced at Raidou. “It’d take a fair amount of chakra to make a clone who can negotiate. I’ll leave a clone here to work, and go see Goto-san myself.”

That worked. Raidou nodded and crouched to take a closer look at the hole in the floor, envisioning just how many boards they’d need to rip out.

“So, Tousaki,” he asked, “ever use a saw?”