Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Indecent Exposure ~ A Naruto Fan-Fic (K/I) ❯ Chapter 12

Indecent Exposure

A 'Naruto' fan-fiction by Ookami Kasumi

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~ Twelve ~

 

Hauling the duffel bag, Iruka strode down the school hallways with Shikamaru right behind him, leading his vaguely line-like group of kids down into the basement of the Academy to the rubber-floored indoor arena.

 

Scattered all over the right half of the arena were class groups going through their weapons and kata trials. From the center all the way to the far left was the indoor obstacle course, already crawling with students.

 

Every last one of Iruka's students looked at the clean, dry obstacle course longingly. A few whimpers broke out.

 

Iruka shot a growling whisper over his shoulder. "I only have so much pity. Push it and we'll do the whole thing in the rain."

 

The whimpers stopped utterly. Most likely because the culprits had been grabbed and had their mouths covered by their fellow students.

 

Iruka led his class to the farthest corner, dropped the bag to his feet, then turned to his group. "Okay, which do you want to do first, kata or weapons?"

 

Pig-tailed Moegi held up her hand. "Kata is faster."

 

Heads nodded all around.

 

Iruka set his hand on his hip, and snorted. A half-smile played on his lips. "You just want to talk to your friends while waiting through the weapons trials."

 

Moegi grinned and nodded.

 

Shikamaru blinked.

 

Iruka rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh. He eyed the rest of his students. "What's the vote?"

 

Thirty-some little mouths opened. "Kata!"

 

Iruka rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine." He lifted his finger. "But warm-ups first!"

 

The kids scattered into four rough lines.

 

Iruka, with Shikamaru at his side, led them in doing their warm-up exercises and stretches. Truthfully, Iruka need the warm up as much as they did. It was going to be a grueling hell of a day, and although he had his pain pills, he really didn't like taking them unless he really had to.

 

Once the twenty-minutes of warm-ups were complete, Iruka knelt and un-zipped the bag. "Okay, everyone, gets..." He smiled up at them. "A blindfold."

 

The kids' happy faces soured, but they approached one by one to take their blindfold.

 

Iruka rolled his eyes. He had no idea why the kids were fussing at this stage. They'd been wearing blindfolds for their class kata off and on for weeks.

 

One of the kids turned to Shikamaru. "Did you have to do your kata blindfolded too?"

 

Shikamaru nodded. "Yep. He knelt. "But there's a trick to it."

 

"A trick?"

 

The kids mobbed him.

 

"What trick?"

 

"Tell us the trick!"

 

Pale-eyed Hanabi tugged on Iruka's jacket. "Can he do that?"

 

Shikamaru looked up at Iruka, one brow raised.

 

"Well...?" Iruka made a pretense of struggling over the answer. "I am being kind of mean for making you go through the course in the rain." He set a hand to his brow over his eyes and dramatically scouted how close the other classes were, then looked over at Shikamaru. "Tell them, but quietly, okay?"

 

Kneeling, Shikamaru nodded hastily then held out his arms to gather them close. "Okay, the trick is to empty your mind. Don't think about it. Don't think about anything at all, just --- react. Your body has done it so many times that it'll do it all by itself -- if you let it."

 

Several of the kids' faces scrunched in open doubt. "Are you sure?"

 

Konohamaru stepped forward. "Actually, that's how I do it. I just stop thinking and my body just...does it. The blindfold makes it even easier 'cus if I'm not looking at stuff, my brain just shuts down all by itself."

 

The kids frowned but nodded.

 

Iruka clapped his hands. "Okay! Line up! Four lines, please!"

 

The kids scattered into four fairly straight lines.

 

"Arms out! Make sure your fingers can't touch the next person!" Iruka signaled to Shikamaru.

 

The Nara trotted around to the back to spot from there.

 

Iruka lifted his chin, and pitched his voice to carry loudly. "Blindfolds on!"

 

All of his kids dutifully tied their on blindfolds.

 

Every single class around them stopped what they were doing to turn and watch.

 

Iruka dropped his voice to a loud stage whisper. "Make sure the blindfold is on good or the trick won't work properly, okay?"

 

Thirty-some little voices whispered right back. "Yes, Iruka-sensei!"

 

Iruka cleared his throat. "Okay, everyone picture the sky all blue with maybe a couple of clouds -- and nothing else. Just blue and fluffy-white, and more blue... Deep breath in! Let it out. Okay. Assume the ready stance!"

 

Thirty-some little bodies adjusted to stand with their feet apart, and their hands down at their sides with their fingers loosely curled.

 

Iruka narrowed his eyes. "Blue sky... Blue sky... Blue sky... Ox!"

 

Thirty-some little bodies shifted instantly to step forward with their right fist up in the blocking position with their left leg back.

 

Iruka nodded. "Wow, you all did it exactly right. I'm impressed. I guess that trick really works after all, yeah?"

 

Thirty-some little faces showed astonishment then smiles.

 

Iruka smiled with pride. "Okay, back to the blue sky... Blue sky... Blue sky... Hare!"

 

Thirty-some little bodies shifted instantly into the next position.

 

In the back Shikamaru nodded.

 

Iruka nodded back. "Ram!" He went through three more stances.

 

A couple of them started to slip, their faces showing worry.

 

Shikamaru pointed out a few more that were slipping.

 

Iruka frowned. They weren't doing it wrong, but it wasn't as clean and sharp as it could be. Clearly, something was occupying their thoughts and getting in the way of their performance. "Blue sky... Blue sky with white fluffy clouds...Blue sky... Tiger!"

 

Every last child went into the stance perfectly. Uncertainty was erased.

 

The students and teachers watching the show stood there with their mouths hanging open.

 

Iruka knew for a fact that not one of the other classes made their kids do their kata blindfolded. It was a technique he'd learned from his father. It taught the body to act on reflex without the mind -- an absolutely valuable trait in a ninja whose every move could mean life or death.

 

Iruka went back and forth from blue sky to stance until all twelve kata positions had been accomplished. He smiled. "Blue sky, blue sky... Red jellybeans!"

 

The entire class froze.

 

Iruka grinned. "All done!"

 

The kids ripped off their blindfolds and stared at each other then at Iruka in open skepticism.

 

Iruka nodded. "Yep, that's it!"

 

One of the little boys frowned. "Are you sure? It was awfully quick."

 

Iruka nodded. "Because your minds were empty and your body did everything for you, you lost track of time." He smiled. "And that's exactly how it's supposed to work."

 

The kids still looked a little doubtful.

 

Iruka raised his brow. "We can do it again if you want?"

 

Thirty-some little heads shook hard.

 

Shikamaru walked through the lines shaking his head, but a smile tugged at his lips.

 

"Oh and by the way..." Iruka leaned forward. "You all passed."

 

The boy in front of him blinked. "We did? All of us?"

 

Iruka nodded.

 

Shikamaru took his place next to Iruka. "It looked clean to me."

 

The kids exploded with happiness, jumping up and down and squealing.

 

The rest of the classes faded away, expressions of astonishment and jealousy shifting on their faces.

 

Iruka threw up his hands. "Okay, weapons next, so who wants to beat up Shikamaru first?"

 

At his side, Shikamaru stiffened. "Hey!"

 

Thirty-some hands went up. "Meeeeeeeeeeeee!"

 

The weapons forms were a simple two-man kata with one partner doing one kata against the other. Each kata had twelve strokes. To do the trial, the instructor took one side of the kata while the student took the other. To pass, the student had to do all twelve strokes of one side of the kata, then switch and do all twelve strokes of the other side of the kata -- as fast as they could go.

 

Iruka had absolute confidence that if a child missed a kata stroke, Shikamaru would stop in time to avoid hitting the child with his kata stroke.

 

Shikamaru snorted then raised both hands with big wide eyes and a somewhat hurt expression. "Why beat up on me?" He shot a sly glance at Iruka. "I'm not the one making you do the obstacle course in the rain, that's was Iruka-sensei's idea."

 

Thirty-some little faces turned to glare at Iruka.

 

Iruka blinked at Shikamaru. Oh you little sneak! He snorted. "How about we switch hit?"

 

Shikamaru pursed his lips and tilted his head, then rolled his gaze to Iruka. "Rock-paper-scissors, who goes first?"

 

Iruka nodded. "That's fair." He looked at his kids. "Which weapon first -- staff, kunai, or sword?"

 

"Swords!"

 

Iruka nodded. "Sit in a big circle!"

 

The kids jostled into a fairly wide seated circle.

 

Iruka trotted over to his canvas duffle bag and hefted it over. He dropped it just outside the circle and pulled out three wooden swords. He passed one to Shikamaru, slid one into his belt, then pulled out a third and set it in the center of the wide circle.

 

Iruka faced Shikamaru in the center and held up his fist.

 

Shikamaru leaned close and whispered. "Give me Konohamaru." He raised his fist.

 

Iruka nodded. "Rock-paper-scissors!" Iruka didn't try to win, he just kept his hand in a fist -- rock.

 

Shikamaru held out a flat palm -- paper. "Paper binds rock."

 

Iruka nodded and stepped back. "You get first fight and first pick." Basically, whomever he picked first would be the head of the line, with the next student being whoever sat next clockwise around the circle.

 

Shikamaru set his sword on his shoulder and wandered around inside the circle. "Okay, who thinks they can take me?"

 

Lots of little hands went up, including Konohamaru's.

 

Shikamaru tapped Konohamaru on the shoulder with his sword. "You sure you can take me, brat?"

 

Konohamaru grinned. "No problem." He lunged to his feet and hurried to center of the circle to scoop up the wooden sword.

 

Iruka stepped forward and lifted his hand. "Bow to your opponent."

 

They bowed.

 

"Ready stance!"

 

Both fell into second position, left foot back, sword angled forward with their blades crossed, but not quite touching.

 

Iruka dropped his hand. "Begin!" He stepped back.

 

The wooden swords clacked loudly in strike after strike, fast and hard, exactly how it was supposed to be done. Konohamaru performed flawlessly, if a little tensely.

 

Shikamaru was very good, and very quick, but he kept to the speed of the child he was fighting to keep from overpowering him. Not an easy thing to do when one was trained from early childhood to beat one's opponent. Then again, Shikamaru had never been truly competitive.

 

The bout ended very quickly with both fighters holding their swords in the sheathed position at their opposite hips.

 

Iruka nodded. "Bow."

 

They bowed.

 

Shikamaru nodded at Konohamaru. "Good."

 

Konohamaru looked over at Iruka.

 

Iruka smiled. "Pass."

 

Konohamaru jumped and whooped.

 

Iruka tilted his head indicating the circle. "Pass the sword to the next." He pulled his sword from his belt.

 

Pig-tailed Moegi approached with the sword.

 

Iruka lifted his brow. "So, how do you really feel about doing the obstacle course in the rain?"

 

Moegi scowled ferociously. "It sucks."

 

Iruka smiled. "Gonna beat me up for it?"

 

She grinned -- all teeth. "Yes!"

 

Iruka flinched back dramatically. "Okay!"

 

Shikamaru lifted his hand. "Bow to your opponent. Ready stance. Begin!"

 

The sword trial completed to become the four-foot staff trial. It was a different two-man kata, but done in the exact same format. The staff trial became the kunai trail, with both opponents holding a wooden kunai in each of their hands. Some of the students were not quite as strong in their strokes, but none of them missed. Everyone passed.

 

Iruka's class finished ten minutes before lunch -- long before the other classes finished their trials.

 

Iruka stuffed the battered weapons into his duffel bag, then turned to the group. "So, who wants to go to lunch early?"

 

All hands went up, including Shikamaru's.

 

Iruka grinned and waved them to him. "Let's go eat!"

 

The kids rose from their circle in one big squealing mob to follow Iruka and Shikamaru out of the gym.

 

The students and teachers they passed glared after them in open envy.

 

Heading up the stairs to the main floor and their classroom, Shikamaru leaned close to Iruka. "I saw what you meant about the other classes." He shook his head. "Pathetic."

 

Iruka shrugged and gave Shikamaru a helpless smile. "Each instructor teaches their own way."

 

Shikamaru shook his head and scowled. "Your way is obviously a lot more effective. They ought to take lessons from you."

 

Iruka shook his head. "They don't want lessons from me." He shot a glance at the Nara. "I'd love to save the world, but it just won't let me."

 

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Gods, what a pain."

 

~ * ~