Ibiki frowned at the approaching coastline. “Sakamoto and Tousaki were acquaintances going back some time. Sakamoto and Hatake were mission partners. Hatake and Tousaki were also mission partners. Evidently Hatake has some charm I’ve yet to see any evidence of, in my limited experience of him, that involves making homosexuals and men with latent homosexual tendencies develop strong feelings for him. I believe Sakamoto did not in fact consummate his desires, whereas Tousaki did.” He kept his head still, but his eyes flicked to the corner studying Asuma for a reaction.

Asuma took another drag on his cigarette as the wind snatched a shower of ash away. “If that’s your way of sayin’ Ryouma and Kakashi got their funk on, pretty much,” he said with a shrug.

“Indeed. Then Tousaki was rescued by Hatake from a mission failure in which his integrity as an agent was potentially compromised. Following that, Sakamoto fought publicly with both Tousaki and Hatake, took several missions on which he took out his aggressions—” And that was something to watch. Shida-sensei said he’d had his eye on Sakamoto for a while now, as a potential asset to T&I and as a potential risk to Konoha, depending on whether he stabilized as he matured, or decompensated altogether. “—and ultimately ended with a mission failure which would have resulted in his death in the field, had Hatake failed to reach him in time.”

"I heard about that," Asuma said, sounding thoughtful. "Y'think the old man wouldn't be so bent out of shape about both of 'em trying a rescue now. Sakamoto's got a stake in it, and Hatake's got the practice."

Ibiki turned his gaze away from the sea to study his mission partner. The old man presumably meant Asuma’s father. The disrespectful tone wasn’t a shock, given what Shida-sensei had had to say about the relationship between Sarutobi Hiruzen and his son, but Ibiki hadn’t expected Asuma to be quite so forthright with his opinion on that matter.

“It seems Hatake has remarkably poor luck,” Ibiki offered. “Or makes remarkably poor choices.”

Asuma exhaled a thin cloud of smoke. “Guess it runs in the family.” Dark brown eyes caught Ibiki’s, offering a challenge of some sort.

Hatake Sakumo’s ghost still haunted the village. Ibiki smiled grimly. “So it seems. It will certainly make some factions in Konoha happy if young Hatake’s rising star is shot down by his own mistakes.”

He turned his gaze to the approaching village of Hima. There were little grey fishing shacks clustered near the water’s edge; sturdier looking stone buildings with blue tile roofs rose in stair steps up the steep slope from the shore.

“I can guess how Hatake is taking things, given that his lover—” the word twisted sour in Ibiki’s mouth “—is most likely deceased. What of Sakamoto?”