It had been a little over seven weeks since Team 10 had been formed and they had started finding their rhythm as a group. They had all been working hard... even Shikamaru, and had been getting accustomed to one another and how they all operated, especially after all of Asuma's training exercises, including the one he had them do today.
Asuma looked at his team of genin as they were all sprawled out on the grass, scuffed up and exhausted, "Well that was good work you guys. I thought you had me for a second there. Nice try with the decoys Naruto, but you pulled the trigger on the trap too quickly. Ino, you let loose the Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Jutsu) too soon, I wasn't caught yet. Shikamaru, you need better communication with your teammates. And Menma you got too cocky trying to take me one on one spamming wide range lightning jutsu, but you never once thought about how that might effect your teammates. A good plan won't work if you can't readily adjust if there are hiccups."
Menma was the first to pick himself up off of the ground, "What are we getting out of you kicking our asses twice every week Asuma-sensei?"
Asuma grinned at the disheveled genin, "Well first of all, it's fun." He felt four glares of death on him, "Second of all, you need the battle experience and hopefully I'll end up beating you guys up worse than any opponent you'll actually wind up facing. And third, this was a test."
Ino sat up, still somewhat disoriented, even after recovering from her missed jutsu, "What test? We're supposed to be done with all of the tests aren't we?"
Asuma stroked his beard, "It was to see if you were ready for the next level of missions."
Shikamaru stayed on his back looking up at the sky, "And what would that be? Walking dogs, finding cats, and picking up dog crap at the same time?" Shikamaru said sarcastically.
Naruto then decided to chime in, "Don't forget about the babysitting missions and the gardening missions? Those would make a real high-profile one." He said sarcastically.
Asuma turned away from them all and began to walk away, "Fine. And here I was about to give you all a C-ranked mission for all of your trouble. I guess we can keep doing D-ranks then. Or maybe I can pitch Shikamaru and Naruto's idea of combining them, that would probably be a boon for the village economy." He stopped talking when he found himself unable to move, "What, does that not sound good to you all either?" He said jokingly.
Naruto spoke in a low voice, "C-rank mission or the same threat from the day we met stands." Naruto's head gestured towards Ino who had her hands ready to use her mind-switching jutsu. As a passing thought from before ran through his head he sent out a pulse to see if they had the real one. They did, "I can probably find Kurenai-sensei right now if I had to. It wouldn't be that hard I'm sure. I have Kage Bunshin."
Asuma sweatdropped nervously. With his back turned he couldn't even see the looks on their faces to tell if they were serious or not, and this time they really did have him caught. Damn teamwork. Why'd they catch on to it so fast? Oh, because two of their fathers are on a squad famous for teamwork, "Now don't be so hasty you guys. I was just messing with you. You're getting the mission so just let me go."
He couldn't see anything but silence went throughout the field until Ino spoke, "I say we should still do it, he beat the crap out of us all month long. And look at my clothes, I'll have to get a new set!" She pouted.
"You look fine Ino, it's alright." Menma said absently, "And if we do it won't he get us back for it? He is a jounin. I don't think I could duck him forever if I really had to."
Asuma let himself smirk when he heard Menma's first comment. He knew what was coming next and wasn't let down when Ino spoke again, "I really look fine Menma? You're so sweet! I think you've earned something special from your Ino-chan!" He could just feel Ino batting her eyes at Menma as well as Menma's gaping fish expression without ever turning to see and had to keep from laughing, lest Menma retaliate, he was still at their mercy.
Ino had taken to teasing Menma like this regularly since it had worked so well out of the blue the first time, and Asuma had to say, it made his days more entertaining to say nothing else. It may have been embarrassing the boy, but they were all a team, and it was getting him used to girls, something that judging his earlier reactions he hadn't had much experience with, which was weird considering all those pervy books he reads. Ino seemed to enjoy his reactions too, apparently all her time spent on Sasuke ended up getting no positive reactions out of him, at least with Menma he would react in a way that didn't destroy her self-esteem, dare he say they actually made her feel pretty.
"Could you guys do this another time?" Shikamaru cut in, still holding his hand-seal with a look of focus on his face, "I don't know how much longer I can keep him like this."
Naruto chuckled as he saw Shikamaru's annoyed expression, "Whatever, you probably need the work out anyway." Ino laughed at Shikamaru who dropped the rat seal, clearly the moment had passed where they were serious about getting Asuma.
Shikamaru sighed and stretched his back, "Troublesome... you're a real bastard Naruto."
Naruto grinned at Shikamaru, "I dabble from time to time."
Ino raised an amused eyebrow at Naruto, "Oh, 'dabble' you say? I didn't know you 'dabbled' in anything Naruto. What else do you 'dabble' in?"
Naruto gave her a deadpan look, "I've been sending clones to work with Shiho-chan for the entire month. I see that word all the time. If you see a word all the time you kind of learn what it means sooner or later Ino."
"You still do that?" Asuma said, "I thought I told you not to keep doing that every day?"
"No." Menma said with a grin, "You advised him not to do that every day, and he listened, he just didn't do it."
Asuma gave him a deadpan look, "Both of you stop being a smart-asses and stop using big words on purpose just for kicks no matter how entertaining it is."
Naruto shrugged, "I'll try, and why should I? The only reason anyone uses big words is because they want people to think they're smart. Every single big word I've ever heard has a smaller word that means the exact same thing for it." He blinked, "Wait, what were we talking about before this?"
Finally, Asuma was able to get the team back on track, "I was saying we're finally going to take a C-ranked mission tomorrow. You all make sure you have everything you think you'll need for a decent length of time away from Konoha." He knew they were ready for this, A C-rank wasn't out of their league. "Tell the people you need to tell that you'll be gone for a while starting tomorrow. See you in front of the tower at our usual time." He then left his team in the training field.
Ino waved to Asuma's back and called after him, "Tell Kurenai-sensei I said hi Asuma-sensei!"
Asuma almost tripped and whipped his head around at the speed of sound, "How did you know I was-?" He saw Ino grinning at him as well as Naruto. Shikamaru even had a smirk on his face. Hell, even Menma peeked up from his although he usually did that anyways but for others reasons, "I hate you kids sometimes..." He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked away grumbling about brats, "Should have never come outside that day..." He was of course referring to the day his team met Kurenai for the first time.