“Never going to happen,” Kakashi said.

The moon was starting to sink, casting silvery shadows over distant tree-tops. It was still just past four in the morning; he had another hour, maybe two, before Naruto came bounding awake, wanting attention and breakfast. Even if he woke sooner, he was back at the palace now, safely guarded under Turtle’s practiced eye. Kakashi had moved over, too, and stayed until the itch under his skin had finally driven him out to the training fields.

Returning now would give him enough time to catch a nap, if he actually felt sleepy.

Except he didn’t.

He’d put it down to post-mission jitters, or even post-mission guilt, but this restlessness didn’t have that old sour edge. It was a different worry, carved around the empty hole Minato had made with his absence. And maybe, a little, the memory of Ryouma backing him up against the counter's edge.

Which was a game Kakashi had fallen for, nothing more.

He sighed and rumpled a hand through his hair. Post-puberty teams were complicated, and Katsuko wasn’t any more decipherable. If she had interest, which he couldn’t tell, it seemed to extinguish in an eye-blink, swapped out for easy bickering that at least made more sense. Maybe Ryouma had been messing with him twice?

“Thinking pretty hard there, sweet cheeks,” Katsuko said, jarring his attention back to the present. She winked at him. “Remember, you’ve still got to figure out how I pulled the jump trick thing.”

“You jumped high,” he said, dry.

“Oooooh,” Katsuko said, and clapped with dripping sarcasm.

He snorted. “And you threw your chakra.”

Her step paused fractionally, barely a hitch. “Go on,” she said. “Show your work.”

“That’s it. You jumped high—with an overhead twist that helped confuse the angle—and then you threw your chakra. Or expanded it, more likely. I lost sight of you for a second, so I used what I thought was the edge of your chakra to figure where you were in space, and got it wrong.” He glanced sidelong at her. “Since your chakra’s so big, you can shove it forward and still have it feel dense enough to fool a passing sweep. It’s a smart move against a chakra-sensor.”

And not something he could really replicate, with his chakra levels.

Katsuko was silent for a beat, then she broke into delighted laughter. “No one’s figured it out that fast before.” She grinned at him, sharp and white. “Alright, I’m impressed. Think you can keep impressing me during training?”

Despite years of Minato insisting he learn otherwise, sometimes it was just too easy to be arrogant. Kakashi’s mouth tugged sideways. "Probably. Your standards aren't high.”