Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Indecent Exposure ~ A Naruto Fan-Fic (K/I) ❯ Chapter 9

Indecent Exposure

A 'Naruto' fan-fiction by Ookami Kasumi

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~ Nine ~

 

Exam week was hell.

 

First of all, the weather was hell. It rained all five days of the exam, Monday through Friday.

 

Because of the rain, Iruka's morning jogs with the weights were not only painful but cold too. The good news was that he was finally making two whole circuits. The bad news was that the rain made it that much harder to stick to the rooftops and branches he was jogging on, increasing the strain on his already strained muscles. Visibility was utter hell.

 

And then there was class. It was hell.

 

The exam had been hell for Iruka to write, and it was just as much hell to deliver. Casting a shadow clone every single day to help watch for cheat sheets, spy-mirrors, and outright copying, was serious hell on his chakra supply.

 

Exam week was hell on Iruka's students.

 

The little demons did not appreciate having to sit still -- for several hours -- during the written parts of the exam. The Hyuuga, Hanabi in particular, did not appreciate having her desk turned to face the wall to keep her from using her 'special' eyes. Not one of them, Iruka included, appreciated the rain forcing them to remain in class to eat their lunch without talking, and especially without passing notes.

 

That Monday, out of sheer pity, Iruka allowed his students some hell-raising slack during the practical exam -- throwing things, catching things, climbing things, and beating the snot out of each other, disguised as the fighting skills part of the exam. During a momentary lull in the downpour, he marched them all outside into the wet grass and allowed them to blow a few things up with his explosive tags, just for fun.

 

On Tuesday, he snuck in an unscheduled test with the help of Shikamaru and the Hyuuga, Neji. Unbeknownst to the other teachers, or even the principal, he ran a chakra capacity and control test. It consisted of levitating a leaf over their palms for as long as they possibly could while Neji scanned their chakra pathways.

 

Iruka would forever carry the guilt in his heart for not realizing that fully half of Naruto's learning disability had been due to the fact that his chakra had been severely underscored. Far too late, he'd discovered that the one who'd conducted the test in Naruto's first year had refused to test him at all -- from extreme prejudice.

 

That would never ever happen again under Iruka's watch.

 

Neji happily reported that most of his students had been accurately tested. However, four students did show a higher level than they were supposed to have.

 

Iruka thanked his two assistants profoundly and passed them a hand-copied scroll of some lesser known, but surprisingly effective concealment jutsus that Iruka had inherited from his father.

 

Iruka then cornered the four students in question, one of which happened to be Konohamaru, and taught them some control exercises that would help regulate their chakra flow and make it easier to accomplish the jutsus that had been troubling them.

 

Konohamaru and the other three students were pathetically grateful to find out that their problems had stemmed from too much chakra, rather than not enough. Iruka's green flack vest was soaked in tears and smeared with boogers by the time they were done showing their gratitude.

 

Iruka didn't mind a bit. He hugged them back just hard with a suspicious burning in his eyes. He was painfully happy that he'd stopped history from repeating itself, at least in this class.

 

Exam week was hell on the mission room staff.

 

Although word had been passed that Iruka's chair was less than safe to approach that week, not everyone got the message. And so, while Iruka struggled to correct all those written exams before the first weekend of Summer Vacation, the staff encouraged the jounin, genin, and chuunin that foolishly walked into the mission room to come to their chairs instead. The work was exhaustive, but they were happy to do their part in keeping the number of screaming fits and temper-related injuries down to the absolute minimum.

 

Wednesday, dead center of hell week, the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade stopped by the mission room.

 

Iruka realized whose chakra he was feeling just barely in time to shove the exams he'd been frantically correcting into his book bag.

 

Tall, blonde, busty, and frowning darkly, Tsunade walked up to Iruka's chair. Glaring down at Iruka, she yelled out. "Shizune...!" Her voice rattled the windows, the desks, the walls, and the floors.

 

Iruka worked very hard not to sweat under her stare, but failed miserably.

 

The other five chuunin manning the mission desks stared wide-eyed with open worry.

 

The rest of the ninja present slammed their backs to the walls, putting themselves as far away from their obviously angry Hokage as they could get.

 

Shizune came running into the mission room with Ton-ton, her pot-bellied pig, in arms. "Yes, Hokage?"

 

Staring hard at Iruka, Tsunade's brows dipped low over her golden eyes and a flush reddened her cheeks. "Can you tell me why...?" She slammed her hand down on the desk. There was an ominous crack. "This man is sitting at this desk?"

 

Iruka's eyes widened, his sweat went ice cold, and he began to tremble. Not one drop of it was less than real. He was terrified out of his mind and didn't care if he showed it.

 

Shizune frowned. "He's supposed to be there, isn't he? He's on the schedule."

 

Tsunade straightened and folded her arms under her massive bosom. "Shizune, is he, or is he not...?" She turned her ferocious glare on her assistant. "A schoolteacher?"

 

Shizune glanced at Iruka with a frown then blinked at her Hokage. "He is."

 

Tsunade turned to face her assistant. "Shizune, were you aware that this is exam week?"

 

Shizune's brows lifted. "Well yeah, Konohamaru, the Third Hokage's grandson is in his class."

 

Tsunade rolled her eyes then narrowed her golden gaze on her assistant. "Shizune, why would you put a man that not only has to conduct a full week of exams for thirty-some-odd students, but also has to correct all those exams -- on the schedule?"

 

Iruka cleared his throat. "Because I need the money?"

 

Shizune nodded.

 

Tsunade turned her glare on Iruka and pointed straight at him. "You! Go home, and don't come back until the second week of summer vacation."

 

Iruka's eyes widened. "But...?" Oh god, he was about to lose two weeks of pay!

 

Tsunade's finger jabbed toward Shizune. "You! Make sure he stays on the payroll."

 

Shizune smiled. "Yes, Hokage."

 

Iruka's mouth fell open. Two weeks pay for not coming in?

 

Tsunade set her hand on her ample hip. "And get someone else in here to fill that chair. Five people are not enough." She abruptly turned her glare on Iruka. "Why the hell are you still sitting there? Go on, get out!"

 

With all due haste, Iruka grabbed his book bag, rose from the chair, and stepped around the desk, fully intending to bolt like he'd never bolted before.

 

Tsunade touched his arm in passing. "Wait for me in the hall."

 

Iruka froze. Oh gods, what did I do now? He nodded and left the room as just under bolting speed.

 

Tsunade left the mission room and stepped into the hall, closing the door behind her. She lifted her brow at Iruka. "Walk with me." She headed down the stairs at a leisurely pace.

 

Hugging his book bag to his chest, Iruka walked down the stairs at her side. Sweat made the interior of his uniform rather sticky and uncomfortable. He strongly suspected that he was starting to stink too.

 

"So..." Tsunade looked at him from the corner of her eye. "You ran a chakra assessment as part of your exam?"

 

Iruka winced. He hadn't had permission to run one. He took in a deep breath and steadied his resolve. He had been right to run one. Four of his students had needed the reassessment. He nodded. "The main reason why Naruto did so poorly was because he hadn't been tested..."

 

Tsunade frowned. "Isn't every student supposed to be tested in their first year?"

 

Iruka's temper flared from the injustice done to the Naruto. "Yes they are, but the man that conducted Naruto's test was a prejudiced bastard. He didn't even bother." He shot a narrow-eyed heated glare at Tsunade. "The son of a bitch shoved him out as soon as he walked in and put down the lowest possible score he could."

 

Tsunade blinked. "But his chakra capacity is astronomical...!"

 

Iruka nodded. "Which is why he had so many problems. He had so much, yet no one knew, so they never taught him how to regulate it so he could actually use it."

 

Tsunade lifted her chin and took in a deep breath. "So you conducted your own chakra test to make sure the same thing didn't happen again."

 

Iruka ducked his head. "Yes."

 

"You know...." Tsunade frowned at the stairs they were descending. "Konohamaru couldn't wait to tell me that the reason he'd been having problems in class, was not because he didn't have enough chakra, but because he had too much." She flashed him a smile. "That was one happy little boy."

 

Iruka gave her a warm smile that was completely genuine. "I was happy to give him the news."

 

Tsunade nodded. "I received a message from a certain clan leader that said pretty much the same thing. His heir had gone home to report that his chakra levels were higher than his assessment. So high in fact that it had not only interfered with his lessons, but apparently interfered with learning to use his blood-line limit." She smiled at Iruka. "The exercises you gave him to control his levels worked like a charm. That clan leader is as grateful as his heir."

 

Happiness for his kids swelled so large inside him that Iruka's throat closed up tight. He couldn't speak, so he simply nodded. He gabbed onto the banister because happiness had made his vision go a little misty too.

 

Tsunade stopped on her floor. "I received two other letters of gratitude from some very happy parents. I'm sure you already know where they came from."

 

Iruka nodded again. He still couldn't speak. He didn't dare let go of the banister either.

 

Tsunade set her hand on his shoulder and leaned close. "If anyone bitches about the test, tell them I asked you do it, as a favor." She moved to step away then stepped back. "Oh, I almost forgot." She smiled. "Good work." She turned and strode strongly for her office.

 

Iruka rushed down the rest of the stairs and out into the rain. For a several long minutes, he simply stood there rolling in the painful joy of helping, of making a difference, of fulfilling his duty as a teacher by being there for his students when they needed it. And he hadn't gotten nailed for it either.

 

He walked home without using his umbrella because not all of the rain on his cheeks was cold.

 

~ * ~

 

When Iruka got home, he was shivering, but still smiling. After a long hot shower that turned him bright red, he pulled on his sweat pants and prepared to grade. He set a pan of water on the stove to heat, then went into his living room to turn on some soothing music and lit little his corner woodstove. Returning to his kitchen, he set a bottle of good sake in the pan of water, turned the stove's gas flames to low, and set the timer.

 

Those preparations done, he went back into the living room. He pulled a cushion from the couch, dropped it on the floor before his coffee table, and sat on it, feet outstretched with his back to the couch. Mindful that the outside of his book bag was soaked, Iruka carefully withdrew the exam papers from the waterproof interior and dug out his red pen.

 

He began to grade.

 

When the timer went off, he got up to shut off the stove and wrapped the bottle of warmed sake in a towel. He carried the bottle and a low dish style cup to his table and sat back down. He continued with his grading of the first part of the written exams in absolute peace, and a bit of a buzz, for another two hours.

 

He stuffed the graded papers back into his bag with a profound feeling of satisfaction. The lowest scores had all been above 75. So far, his kids were doing well.

 

Smiling a little stupidly, he pushed back the table, rose to his feet, and began his exercises for the night. His mind and heart full of his students, he fell asleep with a smile and slept like the dead.

 

~ * ~