"You weren't the only one," Ryouma pointed out. He tried to remember if he'd seen any mines on the map, either when Genma marked out the locations of the missing villagers or as they planned their route, but if the mines had been marked he hadn't known the symbol. He did remember the mountains, but he'd known about those anyway. "We shouldn't have sent our only sensor-types into the mountain together. The rest of us lost you before we even lost radio contact. On the other hand, if taichou hadn't sent Kakashi, he couldn't have found you when the demons took you. And if he hadn't sent you, whoever it was would've been paralyzed for real."

Though Raidou, Katsuko, or Ryouma himself, with their sharper taijutsu skills, might have avoided being stabbed or paralyzed at all. But that was probably one of those things he didn't actually need to say.

Genma slid his hands into the front pockets of his hoodie. "The captain and I actually talked about that. The thing is, I don't think there was any way we had of knowing what we were going to run in to in there: the big demon was hiding its chakra right up until it was already way too late. When we thought it was just the little demons, it made sense to send in sensors who could find the civilians, if there were any still alive to rescue, and the medic who could stabilize them. But, yeah. Hindsight. Should have sent me and you instead of me and Kakashi."

Ryouma glanced over, quickly. Still no mockery in the lieutenant's eyes or his pale, pensive face. Maybe he meant it.

"I couldn't have found you, if I'd been there instead of Kakashi," he said.

Maybe he wouldn't have needed to. Maybe he could have staved off the horde of demons that had separated Kakashi and the lieutenant; he'd done well enough out in the woods, against a flood of the bigger demons. But Kakashi was a jutsu genius and he fought like a fiend, and there was no point in second-guessing a fight Ryouma hadn't seen.

Genma sucked a breath between his teeth. His shoulders curled beneath the hoodie, hunching in against the chill of the thought. "Yeah. I was lucky he showed up when he did. Another couple minutes and I'd have been heading into my next life."

"He's good at timing it like that," Ryouma said dryly, and didn't scratch his wrist.

They passed from under the shade of the trees, back into the warm spring sun. Training fields spread out on either side of the path. A dark-haired woman was calling up a dusty whirlwind in one; Ryouma squinted against the light, trying to identify her. Not Katsuko, with that long flying hair. She'd been a whirlwind of her own accord, though…

He said abruptly, "What's the deal with Ueno's chakra? She could've given me a transfusion without blinking. Hell, she could've filled me up. But when I asked she just said it wouldn't be a good idea for her, and foisted me off on the captain instead."