"Fss... hah..."
Asuma exhaled a long stream of smoke, a blissful expression spreading across his face.
Leaving the village on a mission wasn't so bad. At the very least, there wasn't a single police unit around to ruin the mood whenever he lit a cigarette.
"Cough, cough..."
Chōji, Ino, and Shikamaru were choked by the thick cloud of smoke, coughing non-stop as tears welled up in their eyes.
As the smoke drifted away, another perfect puff rolled seamlessly from Asuma's lips—demonstrating what true mastery of rhythm looked like.
The only one unaffected was Tazuna, who casually took a swig from his sake bottle as if nothing around him mattered.
"Our teacher really lives up to being one of the Sarutobi clan's shinobi."
Ino covered her mouth with a hand, whispering quietly to Shikamaru beside her as they walked shoulder to shoulder.
"Well, Konoha's jōnin all have their little quirks. For example..."
Hearing Ino's complaint, Shikamaru lazily tilted his head to the sky, his tone listless. Just as he was about to elaborate on the many eccentricities of Konoha's upper-level ninja, the scene before his eyes suddenly shifted—his breath catching in his throat as something yanked hard on his waist.
When his vision steadied again, Shikamaru realized that both he and Ino had been pulled aside by Asuma's strong arm. The very spot they had been standing on just moments ago was now occupied by two unfamiliar figures.
Setting Ino and Shikamaru down, Asuma muttered quietly, "Formation C," before dashing straight toward the enemies.
"Tch. What do we do next?"
The younger of the two attackers asked, glancing to his brother for instructions after their ambush failed.
"Take out the target first!"
Swinging his blade, the older shinobi ignored Shikamaru's group entirely and locked onto their true objective—Tazuna, who was still frozen in confusion.
"Chōji!"
Landing on his feet, Shikamaru's mind immediately went into high gear. Seeing that Chōji had fallen behind by a few steps because of his snack, and hadn't been caught in the initial strike, he shouted a warning.
"Ah? Me?"
Though clearly nervous, Chōji mustered his courage and rushed toward Tazuna, planting himself firmly between the old man and the approaching enemies.
"Cut down that fat one too!"
"Got it!"
Following his brother's order, the younger attacker unsheathed his own blade.
The word "fat" rang clear in Chōji's ears. The fear in his heart was instantly replaced by anger. Flames burned in his eyes as he glared furiously at the two men charging toward him.
"Who are you calling fat?!"
The veins on Chōji's forehead bulged as rage overtook reason. He no longer cared about the difference in strength between them—he just wanted to land a solid punch right on their faces.
Seeing Chōji charging straight at them, the two brothers grinned with delight. To them, both Chōji and Tazuna were nothing but bundles of weak points; they didn't even need to go all out to win this fight easily.
"Die!"
The elder brother swung his blade down, aiming straight for Chōji's neck.
"Ora!"
But they had gravely underestimated the speed of a jōnin like Asuma.
With two dull thuds, Asuma appeared like a blur—kicking the elder brother away and slamming his fist square into the younger's face. Before the brothers even saw his shadow clearly, both were already unconscious on the ground.
And the cigarette in Asuma's mouth had only burned halfway.
"Good work, Chōji. But remember, charging in blindly will only put you in danger."
Snuffing out his cigarette, Asuma gave Chōji's head a light pat. Now that his rage had subsided, Chōji didn't know what to say in response to his teacher's kind reminder.
"Hey, sensei, you noticed those two long before the attack, didn't you?"
Ino frowned, slightly annoyed that Asuma hadn't taken the initiative even though he clearly could have.
"Yeah," Asuma replied calmly. "I needed to make sure what their real target was."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
Ino tilted her head, confused.
"Shikamaru, you get what I mean, right?"
Instead of explaining, Asuma turned his gaze to the boy who always preferred to stay out of trouble.
"What a drag," Shikamaru muttered under his breath before reluctantly speaking up. "Because they're shinobi."
"So what if they're shinobi?" asked Chōji, who had now joined them, just in time to catch that part of the conversation.
Tazuna, visibly uneasy, avoided meeting Shikamaru's eyes.
"Because Tazuna-san's mission was listed as a C-rank request," Shikamaru explained. "That means we only have to protect him from bandits and thugs. But fighting other shinobi—that's B-rank or higher. So Asuma-sensei needed to figure out whether these two were after us... or after Tazuna-san."
After finishing his explanation, Shikamaru sighed softly, muttering another, "What a drag," before walking up to Tazuna.
"So that's it..." Ino finally understood.
"Tazuna-san, you've been hiding something important from us, haven't you?" Chōji followed up, frowning.
"Exactly," Asuma said as he finished tying up the attackers. Though he had already guessed the truth behind the mission, he still played along.
Walking over to Tazuna, Asuma placed a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder and said,
"Tazuna-san, it's time you told us what you've been keeping from us."