Genma took a long swallow while he tried to decide what Raidou was fishing for. Raidou’d definitely noticed Genma’s bobble with Orochimaru’s name, but sworn to secrecy was sworn to secrecy, and there wasn’t much to tell there, anyway. I was the one who found Orochimaru’s half-dead student in an alley and sounded the alarm, and that’s why I think the man is a monster? Everyone in Konoha who knew anything at all about Orochimaru’s lab thought the man was a monster. His eyes strayed to the file folders again—was it mentioned in his personnel file?

“You’ve got decent taste in beer,” he said, playing for time. “I like that in a captain.”

“I like honesty in a lieutenant,” Raidou replied. He leveled a look at Genma that suggested he would stand for not even a microgram of bullshit. “If there's an issue with Hatake, I want to hear it. Concerns about megalomania? Problems with his family history?”

That wasn’t even remotely about Orochimaru. Genma didn’t hide his puzzled surprise. “Hatake’s family? No. I— Oh. You mean Sakumo-san. You know, I really don’t. I’m more concerned about Kakashi being the Yondaime’s protégé than I am about his dad having made a bad judgment call on a mission and an even worse one in the aftermath.”

And shit, there were plenty of shinobi in Konoha who fully believed the White Fang had done the right thing by taking his own life. If Raidou was one of them, that was a stupid thing to have said. Genma rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Forgive me if that was out of line. It’s been a longish day.”

Raidou set his elbows on the table, propping his chin on his hands and looking Genma in the eye. “I agree with you,” he said. “I think that's another reason why Yondaime-sama put Hatake on our team. We’re both too young to have known Sakumo-san, and I didn't lose anyone in that mess. Did you?”

Genma shook his head. “My mom was a chuunin, but she died when I was little in that big landslide that buried Tateyama Village. That was way before the Fang’s... mistake, I guess. And my dad—you met him the other night. Until someone invents a way to make pastries battlefield-lethal, he’s a civilian. I guess there could be some distant connection with my mom’s side, but there’s nothing I’m aware of.”

“Exactly,” Raidou said. “So even if we have opinions, we don’t have a stake.”

“That’s smart. I’d figured Yondaime-sama would put Kakashi with one of the older vets, like Shikaku or Aburame, but they might have issues we don’t.”

Raidou nodded. He ran a finger along the silver rim of the enameled colander full of fruit, pushing it another few centimeters closer to Genma. Taking the hint, Genma drained his beer to half, selected a ripe-looking banana from the bowl, and used his senbon to start the top of the peel.

“So my concerns about the rookies,” he said. “One: is Kakashi going to be able to take orders from two guys who are not the Yellow Flash of Konoha? Two: is Tousaki... I don’t know. I’m not sure how to put this. I know it was a genjutsu, and it was a smart one, but I can’t get over seeing him take down Sato with that rot jutsu. And then he turned right around and walked into a trap. So is he steady enough for ANBU? And three: if Yondaime-sama is counting on there being some kind of bond between Tousaki and Kakashi, what happens if that bond gets broken?”

He had concerns about their third teammate, too, but those would wait a moment more.