"Walked right in and told Arakaki he ought to hire me," Ginta said with a cocky grin. "Almost exactly three years ago, actually. And Arakaki Hisoka is a smart man. Knows a good thing when he sees it. I was in Hunter uniform and mask before a week was out. Did a lot of spook work up in Lightning." He raised his eyebrows just a little, like he and Asuma were co-conspirators now. Anyone as smart as Asuma was--and Ginta remembered him being sharper than a freshly forged tanto--would have no trouble guessing what an ANBU doing undercover ops in Rai no Kuni three years ago would have been up to, after all.

"How about you? Hand-picked hothouse flower, or a volunteer primrose like me?" he asked. It could go either way, really. Higher-ups might want Asuma in ANBU because it was the kind of experience a future village leader would need. Assuming they were still hoping he'd rise to the top like his father. Given his lineage, whether he ended up wearing that broad-brimmed hat of ultimate authority or not, it was a good bet Sarutobi Asuma was headed for seniority in Konoha's hierarchy.

Or they could want him out of harm's way, which ANBU most certainly was not. If they didn't want him here, though, Ginta was pretty sure Asuma simply wouldn't be here. Rebel renegade or not, he was back under the village council's thumb now. Under his father's thumb.

It made Ginta wonder, just a little, what his own life might have been like if Sakamoto Gousuke had survived the fight with the demon fox.