Anything Goes?

"Hmph!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi snorted coldly, looking his unworthy youngest son up and down. "I think it's great. Weren't you swaggering around like crazy before? After getting beaten up by an Uchiha seven years younger than you, I can see you've finally settled down!"

The more he looked, the more satisfied he became.

Say what you will, after that beating, hey!

He suddenly seemed so much steadier!

"I'm still young! Give me a few more years, and I might not be worse than Uchiha Siming!"

Asuma Sarutobi refused to accept it. "Thirty years east, thirty years west—don't bully a youth for being poor!"

Who said that being a young man meant you couldn't turn things around?

"Heh, give it a rest. Uchiha Siming hasn't even opened his eyes yet. Once he does, you won't even be able to see his backside."

Hiruzen Sarutobi shot his youngest son a sidelong glance.

He knew his son's talent inside and out.

Elite Jonin was a stretch; Eagle-rank was forever out of reach.

Asuma Sarutobi slumped in defeat. "...Fine, I'll go."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was very pleased.

He took a couple of puffs from his pipe, thinking back to how his youngest son used to cause him trouble every day and even defy him as Hokage. Now, after getting knocked down a peg, he'd actually improved. He couldn't help but sigh, "Evil is cured by evil."

"Asuma doesn't have any major flaws—he's just too arrogant. I should have had Shisui beat him up ages ago."

Wouldn't that have straightened him out sooner?

Look at him now.

Steady, dignified, with a beard growing in—clearly a fine son!

To be honest, when Siming was sunbathing, he really didn't like being disturbed.

Especially when he was chatting with someone's childhood sweetheart and got caught red-handed.

Like right now.

Kurenai Yuhi was clinging to Siming's arm, her White Rabbit Milk Candy cloyingly sweet, her bra strap twisted askew. "Siming, Siming, I really can't learn the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique. Teach me, please!"

And Siming was lying in a hammock.

So Kurenai was lying in the hammock too, throwing a little tantrum.

Asuma Sarutobi had just walked in and saw this scene. At that very moment, Uchiha Siming's voice came through, casual and practiced, as if he'd been through this countless times: "Oh? So it's like last time? Anything goes?"

Anything goes?!

Asuma felt like he'd been struck by lightning!

His whole world crumbled. Had Red and Siming already gotten that far? Then what... what was he? He shouldn't be here—he should be under the car!

"Oh? Asuma's here. Come in, come in."

As Asuma was about to leave, he heard a greeting. His eyes went wide, and his breath quickened!

You villain, how dare you!

Not a shred of shame!

They weren't even trying to hide it anymore!

"Uchiha Siming, what do you want from me?!" Asuma Sarutobi stormed over angrily. He'd seen shameless people before, but never this shameless!

But when he got closer, he froze.

Uchiha Siming and Kurenai Yuhi each had their own hammock, spaced far apart. The scene he'd just seen was just an illusion from being too far away.

"Oh? Asuma, why is your face redder than a monkey's butt?"

Uchiha Siming raised an eyebrow. This kid used to have a dark face, and now it was red too—a blotchy red-black that looked no different from a monkey's rear.

"That's from frostbite during a mission!"

Asuma Sarutobi was still fuming inside. He said coldly, "Not like you, sunbathing every day in the Senju clan grounds. Uchiha Siming, the old man wants you at the Hokage's office right now!"

Even if he'd misjudged the scene, what about that "anything goes" between Siming and Red just now? That couldn't be fake, could it?

This wicked Uchiha brat was brazenly lustful!

"Fine."

Siming rose leisurely, then turned to Kurenai. "Red, don't forget the conditions you agreed to just now. Once I teach you the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique, you'll have to deliver."

"Of course!"

Kurenai agreed without hesitation.

Crack!

Asuma heard the sound of his heart breaking. He looked up at the sky, struggling to keep his tears from falling!

"Asuma, what's wrong with you?"

Sensing her companion's distress, Kurenai Yuhi blinked her crystal-like red eyes: "You can tell me anything, we're best friends after all!"

Snap!

Friends?!

Right, they were just friends!

Asuma's heart ached even more, as if pierced by ten thousand arrows.

"By the way, Asuma, how should I fulfill Siming's condition?" Kurenai Yuhi looked troubled.

Asuma's breathing grew ragged: "???"

His voice was painfully strained: "Kurenai, there's no need to tell me about this sort of thing!"

He was just a "friend"—

Even imagining such matters made his heart twist in agony!

When he got back, he'd definitely badmouth that bastard to the old man. Damn Uchiha Siming, you deserve to die!

"How can there be no need? Last time, Siming's condition for giving me the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique was to introduce him to a 'subject' for teaching. This time it's the same, but where am I supposed to find another one?"

Kurenai Yuhi said with a troubled expression:

"Honestly, even though Siming is an Uchiha, he worries about Konoha's affairs more than the Senju do."

Huh?

Asuma Sarutobi froze on the spot, his mind clearing as he said excitedly: "You, you mean Siming's condition was for you to find him a teaching subject? Not, not some other condition?!"

"Of course, what else did you think it was?" Kurenai Yuhi's small face showed confusion.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Asuma threw his head back and laughed, his whole being reborn: "So that's it, so that's it!"

In an instant, his state of mind shifted like heaven and earth, his heart soaring, the entire world brimming with charm.

Good.

Good!

When he got back, he'd definitely put in a good word for Uchiha Siming!

On the other side.

Uchiha Siming stood at the door with a wary expression. Damn it, why did Hiruzen Sarutobi keep calling him over every few days?

He wasn't planning to screw him over, was he?

He kept his hands clasped together in a prayer-like gesture.

"Uchiha Siming, get the hell in here!"

Inside the room, staring at the crystal ball showing Uchiha Siming still waiting at the door, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face darkened. As Siming entered, he said irritably: "What, you wait at the door every time? Do I need to personally invite you or something?"

And what's with the clasped hands?

Praying to Buddha or chanting sutras?

He found it utterly baffling.

"Not at all, it's just that without the Third Lord's summons, how could I casually barge into the Hokage's office?"

Uchiha Siming said with righteous conviction, though his clasped hands showed no sign of lowering.

"Ha!"

Hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi's mood greatly improved. Although he had issued a notice that all Konoha villagers could come to the Hokage's office to find him if they had matters, seeing such a well-behaved Uchiha Siming, he nodded in satisfaction.

It's fine to let you come, sure.

But coming casually isn't great, especially without knocking!

Look at this young man Uchiha Siming—he had real political awareness!

Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice softened considerably, carrying a deliberately displayed benevolence: "By the way, Siming, I heard you've been getting quite close to the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki lately?"