"I'd like to see you try, Dead Last," a scowling Sasuke challenges.
"Hey, now, where did our teamwork go," Kakashi easily states stepping between the two. "Sasuke, Naruto's right. You should treat your teammates better. And Naruto, just because you don't agree with your teammate, doesn't mean you fight them.
Now, since the third genin of this team is out, I'm willing to give you a three day weekend, but I want you both to continue training and conditioning. We may not have missions but maximizing the strength of your body and skill never takes a break."
"Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke tamely calls. "I need you to oversee my training."
"I guess I can take a look," Kakashi says just a bored.
"Ne, ne, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto eagerly chimes. "I need you to look over my training too!"
"If I have some time, sure," Kakashi replies, taking some of the wind out of the blond's sail. "How's that task Kurenai-sensei wanted going?"
"What task?" Sasuke quickly asks. "Is another Jnin-sensei training the dobe as well?" Sasuke is clearly irritated by that notion.
"Relax, I'm the only instructor for all the members of Team 7," Kakashi tells the raven-haired avenger, who crosses his arms. "Naruto?"
"It's fine, I guess," Naruto tells him, recalling another of Kurenai-sensei's rules explicitly forbidding him from telling others how he's helping Hinata-chan. "It's super boring though."
"Alright then, dismissed," Kakashi announces, and Naruto is off, hell bent on making up lost training time. His thoughts couldn't be more apparent if he said it aloud...
'I'm going to get the second stage of that damn jutsu down today even if it kills me!'
Naruto's only break of the day came in the form of Ramen, then he would sprint back into training deep in the forest, keeping well away from unexpected witnesses. When Naru-nii joins him for thirty minutes, Naruto goes all out trying to master this stage of the Rasengan.
"I usually rely on a lot of alcohol to do the heavy lifting," Anko happily states as she grabs her friends uneaten dango. "Look, your little lamb is with her family for the weekend, I have sometime before tonight's interrogation, let's get some drinks and have fun, yeah?
Make a couple cute guys drool?"
"I guess," Kurenai agrees, exhaling. "I think that could help."
"And please get laid," the busty kunoichi adds, quickly provoking a friendly glare from the red-eyed beauty. "What? It's been ages already, and enough is enough. You've been all business since you got your brats and I'm telling you, you can't keep going without a bit of dick every once in a while.
You might not have another opportunity to cut loose."
"You know it's not like I'm opposed to some overnight company," Kurenai levels. "It's just..." Kurenai trails off, an image of Asuma appears bright and impressive in her mind and heart.
As much fun as a night of non-committed pleasure with a stranger can be, it's a paltry substitute to being with someone you genuinely love. If anything, it just means she has more of an emotional expectation from a partner that Anko didn't seem to care for.
"I know," Anko says sympathetically. "We both have men in our lives we can't forget, though in my case it's because I want to murder him brutally. It's why I keep it strictly physical, babe."
"I would if I could," Kurenai freely admits with a smirk. "Kami how much easier life would be."
"It's heaven," Anko returns with a broad smile. "For now anyway. I'm sure it'll change eventuallyway down the line if I'm lucky."
Kurenai and Anko understand how change is inevitable. It's one of the many principles taught to every shinobi of the Leaf; in their line of work, they can't allow that moment of being stupefied if something doesn't go as planned.
Plans often fail, and that failure can cost lives, so they both know in order to survive, they must be able to adapt. Being adaptable means surviving longer and they all want to survive.
After a moment of silence, Anko admits to her dearest friend, "personally, I think this is the moment for you guys, but whatever happens, at least you'll know where you stand with him. That sounds better than all this stress and anxiety."
"We're trained to endure," Kurenai replies with no real conviction.