Genma's messenger had tracked Ryouma down in the jounin gym on Water Street. The weights there were better than ANBU's, and you didn't have to wait as long for them; there were six jounin-only gyms scattered through Konoha, not just the two that all ANBU rookies had to share with any senior who stopped by. Last month Ryouma and Hakone and Takeshi had all lived close enough to Water Street that they ran into each other almost weekly at the bench press or the squat rack. Now, when he and Hakone walked in together in the early afternoon, old comrades turned to stare.

"Slumming it, aren't you?" a familiar voice called. Norita Takeshi hung from his knees on the top bar of the power cage, paused halfway through a crunch-up. Behind him, Himura Tadao lowered a 225-kilo barbell very gently to the floor.

Both of them had made it to the third stage of the ANBU Trials. Neither of them wore the tattoo.

"Come to stir up trouble in the ranks," Ryouma said. "Still haven't made it to 250 yet, Himura? You're a disgrace to the name of jounin."

"Screw you sideways, Tousaki," Tadao said pleasantly, dusting off his palms. "Though you'd probably enjoy that."

Ryouma kicked off his shoes. "Still an accurate judge of character, I see. How's Intel?"

"Ah, well," Tadao said vaguely, which could have meant either I've found my life's work or I'm planning to blow up their building. You could never quite tell, with Tadao; he made Hakone look expressive.

Hakone himself had begun stretching. Twisted half around himself, torso a sinuous curve, he remarked, "I heard from someone who heard from someone that you'd been caught doing the walk of shame from the Hyuuga compound Thursday morning."

Tadao merely gazed at him. "Why be ashamed?"

"Hyuuga," Takeshi sighed theatrically, and folded up into suspended crunches again. "You should know better. Hell, Ryouma knows better."

"Not really," Ryouma said. "I spent six months when I was sixteen trying to convince my Hyuuga genin sensei that I was madly in love with her."

Takeshi groaned. Tadao asked, with professional interest, "Did it work?"

"It's hard to convince a Hyuuga of anything that isn't true," Hakone said. "Why do you think so many of them work in Interrogations?" He glanced sideways at Ryouma. "It's also hard to seduce your sensei when your voice is still breaking."

"Speaking of seduction," Takeshi broke in, "how're things going with Hatake?" He smirked, upside-down. "He couldn't keep his eye off you at Trials. Worked out yet if you'll trade your jutsu for his virginity?"