AN: Okay, so I was feeling uninspired and put out a plea for ideas/requests in my LJ. Kilerkki wanted "...something from you focusing on Asuma. Maybe his point of view going
into the chuunin exams, or thinking about his kids, or anything at all. Bonus points for including the backstory we've just learned, and for Kurenai!"
So, uh, here it is. Didn't manage to fit the 314 backstory in, so no spoilers. Just 500-some-odd words of jounin-senseis and waiting.
He flicks the ash off his cigarette and glances reflexively at the clock. They'll be wrapping up the paper exam, just about now. Ibiki's infamous tenth question. Asuma wonders if his kids made it.
He'll know soon enough. If they did, he won't see hide nor hair of them until after the second part. If they survive that.
Nah. It's not really an 'if' sort of thing. Asuma has a lot of faith in his brats. Ino will get them through the written, and Chouji will get them through the survival, and Shikamaru will help if he feels like it.
But he still fidgets a little with the cigarette.
"Anxious?" Kakashi says laconically, head tipped back, staring at the ceiling.
Asuma grins a little. "Not on your life," he replies.
Beside him, Kurenai shakes her head. "Bravado," she murmurs, disapprovingly.
He laughs. "Go ahead, underestimate them," he says, crossing his legs comfortably at the ankles and taking a long drag, holding the smoke in his lungs for a moment before breathing it back out.
"Hm," is all Kakashi says.
Asuma knows he's not the best teacher around. If he was stuck in a classroom with the little pre-genin buggers on a regular basis, bad things would happen. He substitutes for Iruka often enough to know that about himself.
But he's all right with the somewhat-older crew, and he thinks he's done an all-right job with his current bunch. He doesn't usually nominate kids on their rookie year, but there's something about these three.
If there's a team that can slip under Ibiki's nose, it's his, he thinks.
He does wonder why Kakashi and Kurenai both nominated their kids, though. From what he's seen and heard of those teams, they're not ready. Most likely, there's something he's not seeing. Like how they don't see that his kids are ready.
For the most part, he's content to kick back and watch the show.
He glances at the clock again.
"It should be over, now," Kurenai says tentatively. "How will we know…?"
Asuma flicks his cigarette again.
"Well, if they failed, they should have already left," Kakashi says, unnaturally still. It's always bothered Asuma that Kakashi doesn't fidget or even twitch. "If they haven't, Anko will be taking them to training ground forty-four for the second exam."
Kurenai rises to her feet (gracefully, because everything the woman does is graceful) and moves to the window overlooking the school yard. Her face is impassive as her red eyes flick over the small mass exodus of genin.
"There is Naruto and Sakura," she says, "and the Uchiha."
Asuma blinks, because he honestly hadn't been expecting Team Seven to pass. Sakura was all right for smarts, but she tended to panic, and Sasuke, to over-think things.
"And…" Kurenai smiles. "My team passed as well."
Well, to be fair, her team had had one Bloodline and two near-Bloodlines. That sort of exam should have been child's play for the little Hyuuga…although he would have thought Ibiki's style would have preyed on her weaknesses.
There's a too-long moment as Kurenai lingers at the window. Then, "There's Chouji and Ino, and Shikamaru."
Kakashi's visible eyebrow rises. "They all passed?" he says, audibly surprised.
Asuma smiles a little. "Told you so," he says.
Endnotes: Well, it appears to have worked. Request/suggestions are still welcome - go to fangses dot livejournal dot com slash 13474 dot html if you'd like to make one. I'll probably be posting more of these 500-word request-ficlets as I get them cleaned up and beta'd.