16 Chapter 16

"The same reason?" Asuma asks, as if it was obvious. I eyed the man for a moment as if he had lost his fucking mind, but all he gave me was a cocky grin. My eyes drifted over to Kurenai and Genma.

"Hey, don't look at me, I'm just going with the flow." Genma raised his hands in surrender. My eyes locked back on Kurenai who gave a long sigh.

"Asuma and I…have a bet, and when I heard he was bringing his kids here to be trained by you, I couldn't exactly sit back and do nothing." She explained, her face stoic to the untrained eye, but I am not a mere commoner, I can see the faint blush on her cheeks as she gave a lasting side glance to the bearded jonin.

"Okay, I won't ask what you bet, but that still doesn't really answer my question." I groaned, turning my gaze back to Asuma who shrugged.

"Sakura came to my group bragging about a super strong Senju brat that's helping her with tree walking. My kids already got that down, but if you're so good at teaching, I'm sure you have something else productive that they could be doing." Asuma stated matter-of-factly.

"Fucking monkeys." I whispered underneath my breath, but judging from the amused huff I heard from said monkey, he heard me.

"So, you gonna teach them or not?" Genma asked, seemingly uncaring regardless of my answer.

I thought about it for a moment. There were pros and cons to such a thing after all. Starting with the cons, it would be harder to pass the chunin exams. That's really the only thing I can think of.

…Which honestly isn't even a con since Naruko, Satsuki, Hinata, and I were all guaranteed to pass the chunin exams. Even if Hinata had to be burdened by her team, there is absolutely no way she would get held back. If anything, training everyone else in our year would make the exams more fun.

Which leads me to my pros. Empowering Konoha.

If I train them, then they'll grow stronger, come chunin exam time, they may all be chunin level, which would be huge for things that will happen in the future. If I remember correctly, Shino was only a chunin even in Boruto, which speaks fucking volumes of how weak he was. What if I got Shino to that level before the time-skip?

What if I did the same for people like Ino, and Shikamaru who held some of the highest positions in the entire village when they're adults.

"Yeah, I'll teach them, but you three owe me." I pointed at the three jonin.

"We don't owe you shit." Genma answered immediately. His response got Asuma to start laughing, only to stop when Kurenai gave him a light slap on his head.

"Of course you do, I'm training your students even though I don't have to. Realistically, I have nothing to gain here, so you three are going to give me something." I shrugged.

Genma's eyes narrowed just a tad bit, but Asuma's chuckling took his attention.

"Owe you? Yeah, alright. We'll owe you one." He continued chuckling.

"Uh, he alright?" I jabbed a thumb at the man who was somehow laughing with a lit cigarette in his mouth. Back in my last life, I never smoked cigs, but I did smoke weed, and I'm certain I would have coughed for minutes if I attempted to laugh with a blunt at my lips.

"He's not usually like this." Kurenai sighed. "But certain…circumstances have him a bit more jolly."

Jolly? Haven't heard that word used in a while.

"You jonin are all super secretive." I frowned.

"Yeah, it's almost like that's our job." Genma snorted, Asuma throwing up his fist which Genma bumped with a cocky grin.

"Mhm, yeah, my fault smartass." I rolled my eyes, turning my attention to my future students. "And what do you all have to say about this?"

"I didn't even want them to come!" Ino insisted immediately. "I had plans to come today and ask you to train me, but Asuma-sensei had to interfere." She rubbed her temples, casting an annoyed glance to the Sarutobi man who just raised his arms as if saying 'what can you do.'

My eyes glanced over to Shikamaru who returned my gaze for a moment before looking up at the clouds. "Don't look at me, I got dragged here. Genin life is such a drag."

"Same." Choji munched on a bag of chips.

"It's not all bad." Kuzan chuckled mischievously as he walked towards me, extending his hand for a handshake. "I get to see how far you've come, and you get to see how far I have. We can even spar a bunch!"

I couldn't deny the smile tugging at my lips. He was right after all. Of all the guys in our class, Kuzan ranked 2nd, right behind me. In terms of the entire class, I would put him just behind Naruko. Which means, he's one of the few people who I could actually spar with and enjoy myself in recent years.

"...I guess you're right." I admitted, which made Kuzan's grin grow to shit eating proportions.

"If anyone's gonna spar against that bastard, it's gonna be me!" Kiba shouted, dropping my mood once again.

"Dude, can we stop with the constant dick measuring?" I asked, more so pleaded. Hinata was mine, and I don't see why I had to keep beating his ass for him to realize that.

"Ignore him." Hinata stepped forwards, a smile on her face that didn't reach her eyes. "If he acts up, I'll deal with him myself."

Kiba flinched at that, but stood his ground. Which is something that deserves my respect in all honesty. Hinata was not only scary because of her motherly nature as a person, but also because she had the power to slap around her own jonin sensei.

"I'll do just that." I smiled, patting my girlfriend on her head.

"So, what are we gonna do first, Lei?" Taro asked.

"Eh." I looked towards the jonin who were all watching me just a bit more closely while maintaining their air of indifference. "Well, Asuma-sensei says his team has already mastered tree walking, what about the rest of you?"

"I can't." Shino admitted. I gave an understanding nod, my eyes trailed over to Kiba who looked at Hinata with embarrassment.

"I'm guessing you can't either?" I asked the Inuzuka Heir, earning a small nod. I made a noise of understanding then looked at everyone else. My eyes widened a tad when nobody else came forward.

"Did you teach Taro and Kuzan tree walking but not Sakura?" I asked with a small hint of anger in my tone.

Genma looked at me like I was an idiot for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I didn't. Hell, I didn't even know they could do it. What kind of jonin-sensei do you take me for?"

I honestly couldn't answer that. To purposely leave out one student while furthering the growth of two others would basically be a death sentence in our line of work. I won't lie, I was starting to feel a bit bad about throwing out such an accusation.

"My fault, I should have read more between the lines before jumping to conclusions. Forgive me." I bowed slightly.

"Meh, it's whatever, I don't really care what a genin thinks of me anyways." He shrugged, reaching out his hand to Asuma who slid him a cigarette.

"Cool." I nodded. "Alright, so since everyone except Sakura, Shino and Kiba can tree walk, you all will start with water walking, while those two will focus on tree walking."

""Right!"" Everyone shouted.

I smiled at their enthusiasm, well not Shikamaru, and was about to choose one of my girls to teach the three how to tree walk, but my eyes caught Asuma and Kurenai giving Naruko 'the look'

I looked at my three girls, and judging by Naruko's reaction, she noticed it too. "Satsuki, can you help Sakura, Kiba and Shino?" I asked.

Satsuki's gaze immediately turned fiery, as I expected, so I closed the distance between us and whispered in her ear.

"I'll make it up to you later."

I pulled back and relished in the burning of her face as she gave me a curt nod. I quickly cast a glance at Hinata to see her reaction and was met with a small smile.

That small interaction just opened up doors I had hoped to open for years.

"Naruko, and Hinata, you both focus on training your elemental natures, I'll train the rest in water walking."

Both girls gave me a nod and made their way into the clan library.

"Alright, follow me."

—

"You're not bad at the whole teaching thing." Asuma admitted as he drank his cup of tea.

"It really isn't that hard. Honestly all it takes is a firm understanding of what you're teaching, and the motivation to actually teach. If you lack either of the two, you will fail as a mentor." I explain through my own sips of tea.

It's been a few hours since I explained water walking to the others and had them start trying themselves. They were all wearing bathing suits, which I used wood clones to go fetch at their individual houses.

…Which in itself was an experience.

Especially the Yamanaka house…I have a feeling Inoichi won't like me for a while.

Now, Genma, Asuma, Kurenai, Naruko, Satsuki, Hinata, and I were sitting outside, watching them struggle while sipping on Hinata's tea and eating Satsuki's rice balls.

Heaven in a sense.

"You really are just like him." Asuma chuckled like a child.

"Asuma." Genma cast the bearded man a warning gaze.

"Eh, you mean my dad?" I asked, basically showing them that I'm not a fucking idiot, as much as I may act like one from time to time.

"That easy to read, huh?" Asuma asked, although it was obvious the man was still very amused.

"Well, Gramps said I remind him of my father, and you just hinted that I remind you of someone. There was a chance I was wrong, but I was almost certain I was right." I munched on a rice ball, sending a thankful look to Satsuki who puffed out her chest a little.

"I see." The son of the Third Hokage nodded understandingly. "Well you are a lot like him."

"Thanks?" I asked. From what I could tell, he seems like he was a great shinobi, and perhaps an even greater man, although I never met him, and don't even know what he looked like.

"It's a compliment." Genma affirmed, his eyes narrowed at Asuma. "Although talking about him may not be in your best interest."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "Why not?"

"Why waste your time talking about the dead?" Genma asked, returning my raised eyebrow.

"Harsh." Asuma took a drag of his cigarette. "But it's true. Still, there isn't really any harm in talking about a great man like Renji. The worst that can happen is you shed some tears or something like that."

Naruko, Satsuki, and Hinata sent me concerned looks, but I waved them off. "Talk to me."

"Don't go crying then." Genma groaned.

"Don't bother with him. Genma is a huge let down when it comes to those who were KIA, especially during that night."

Ah, I see. Genma was one of the Hokage guards for Minato, which would explain him trying to avoid speaking of anyone who died during the Kyuubi attack. It also explains why he hasn't given Naruko any looks like Kurenai and Asuma have. He knows the truth about her, more specifically, he knows she's Minato and Kushina's daughter.

"Where do I start?" Asuma hummed. "Well, I wasn't around when he was a kid. If you want to hear about those days, you'd have to go to the sannin or my dad."

That got my girls to raise their brows, but I pretty much expected as much. If my dad was born shortly after Tobirama died, then he'd have to have been in his late 30s when I was born. Which means he would be in his early 50s if he was still alive. Making him around the same age as the sannin.

"I can tell you when I first met him. It was a couple days after my older brother graduated from the academy. Renji was his jonin sensei. I remember bringing my bro lunch, and the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw him…" Asuma paused for dramatic affect. "Huge!"

"Huge?" I asked. "Like tall, or fat, or muscular?"

"Eh, kind of all three, but more so tall and muscular. He was a burly man, he had a pretty big beer gut, but it wasn't the fat kind, he looked like he could break skulls with his bare hands. Eh, now that I think about it, he definitely could."

"Ah, that's pretty cool." I perked up a bit. Renji Miyamoto was a strongman. Or at least this worlds version of that.

"It definitely was to me!" Asuma chuckled. "The moment I saw him I instantly asked him to make me like him. Much to Hitoshi's annoyance. Renjo-sensei practically took me into their squad after that. An official fourth member of sorts. I was still in the academy, so I couldn't do missions or anything like that with them, but everyday I would train with them."

"You never told me that." Kurenai hummed, her lips twitched upwards.

"I was a dumb kid with a mountain of a man as my role model, there isn't really much else to say, at least regarding me. Renji on the other hand was a lot like my father." Asuma's expression soured for a moment. "He was a good man to be around when he wasn't focused on bigger things. A kind, yet powerful man with dreams of grandeur. He knew he himself could never complete his dreams, so he passed his dreams onto-"

"Asuma." Genma said, this time his warning tone was much colder. "Enough."

Asuma stared back for a long while. The three girls, Kurenai, and I looked between the two with bated breath. Both were leaking killing intent, even if it wasn't directed at us, we could still feel it.

I…don't know if I could win against either of them.

"Passed his dreams onto the Fourth Hokage." I answered, hoping to take some tension out of the air and failing miserably. All it did was turn that tension onto me. "Lord Third already told me about that." I explained quickly.

Asuma's killing intent receded and he started laughing again. "Ah, I see. Seriously, my dad's a mess."

"You shouldn't speak about Lord Third like that, Asuma, even if you are his son, you have to know the Hokage has no favorites." Genma asserted.

"Trust me, Genma." Asuma's eyes narrowed dangerously. "If anyone knows that, it's me."

Internally I thought how bullshit that statement was. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru can all be considered "favorites" in Hiruzen's eyes. Not to mention someone like Danzo who has gotten away with so much shit that he's honestly done more harm to Konoha than good.

Danzo having Hanzo kill Yahiko and thus create Pain within Nagato is probably one of the biggest examples.

"Well, what about my dad's relationship to the sannin, do you know anything about that?" I asked, hoping to change the subject back to something they could both reminisce over.

"Hm." Asuma thought back. "Well, from what I know, he was good friends with Lord Jiraiya, I don't really know about Orochimaru, or Lady Tsunade."

Well makes sense, if he was close to Minato, he had to have been somewhat close with Jiraiya.

"A shame he never realized he was related to Lady Tsunade." Kurenai sighed.

"Truly, it would have done wonders for Lady Tsunade's morale, but Renji-sensei had plenty of family on his mom's side. So he wasn't quite alone, nor was he an orphan." Genma added.

"I see. I would have liked to meet him." I admitted, which was the truth. It would have been pretty cool having an adult figure that actually loved me unconditionally, Mama Reiko was one of them, but she had to spread that love to dozens of kids. Gramps' love isn't unconditional at all. He cared about me because of my blood and my kekkei genkai. If I had neither, I would just be another Konoha orphan to him. Nothing more, nothing less.

"I'm sure he would have loved to see you grow to be the shinobi you are now. I can tell you for a fact, he would have been proud." Asuma gave a heartwarming smile. One I honestly didn't expect from him. I returned it, and my smile grew when I felt the warmth of Hinata's body wrap around my own.

"Eh, looks like Shikamaru almost got it." Asuma pointed at Shikamaru who was walking casually on the water, sure he was wobbly, but he looked absolutely indifferent to everything that was going on.

Like he just wanted to go home.

Shikamaru looked back at us, his face crinkling a bit in annoyance.

"This is such a drag."