| [Jul. 25th, 2013|05:21 am] |
“Nooot taking that bet,” Raidou said. “But that does bring us back to your point about whether he’ll take orders from us mere mortals.”
“And?”
“I had the same concern,” Raidou admitted. “But if he wants to stay in ANBU, he’ll have to.”
“I guess if we have to, we bust his ass up to Kuroda-san. Although the vice tends to be a brow—" Genma checked himself before he said brown-noser about their mutual commander to his new captain, to Raidou’s great amusement. “Political player. That could backfire.”
Raidou propped his chin on his hand again. Would Kuroda try to curry approval from Yondaime-sama by favoring his former student?
Dumb question. How would Kuroda favor Kakashi, was the better question.
“If we have to rap Hatake’s knuckles, we should bypass Kuroda-san and bust him straight to Sagara-sama,” Raidou said. “You know she’d put the fear of, well, Sagara-sama into him.”
The look Genma have him held a wealth of don’t I know it. “Point,” he said. He contemplated his beer, peeling the blue and silver label off with a fingernail. “Tactics... What else? Did you get any hints from Yondaime-sama when you met him?”
“A few,” Raidou said. “He thinks Tousaki needs humbling. And Hatake needs gentleness.” He paused, and added, “With teeth.”
“Gentleness with teeth,” Genma repeated thoughtfully. “So good cop, bad cop?”
Raidou snorted laughter. “Might be a thought. The last concern you had—whether Tousaki’s steady enough for ANBU?”
“Yeah. I know that situation at the second trial would have shaken up anyone—hell, it shook me up—but there was something about Tousaki's reaction…” Genma’s quick gesture tried to shape a concept that wasn’t coming easily in words. “He seems… volatile. Or fragile. That's not the right word either.” He gave Raidou a frustrated look. “What do we know about his history?”
“Haven’t had a chance to look at the files yet,” Raidou said. “Yondaime-sama approved him.”
“Yeah, I got that from the fact you said he’s on our team,” Genma said dryly. “Are you saying you think I’m off-base here?”
Watch your biases, Namiashi.
“Break it down for me?” Raidou said. “I get the rot-genjutsu wasn’t fun to watch, but it was within the limits of the game. Walking into Akiyama’s trap was a dumbass move, I’m with you there. But the reasons were good, even if the execution was flawed. For his reaction afterwards—you mean when he was poisoned?” |
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