Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Indecent Exposure ~ A Naruto Fan-Fic (K/I) ❯ Chapter 13

Indecent Exposure

A 'Naruto' fan-fiction by Ookami Kasumi

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~ Thirteen ~

 

Iruka's boisterous little hellions piled into the room gasping and grinning to dash for their seats and their lunches.

 

Iruka turned to Shikamaru and pointed at his assistant's blue mug. "Do you want to go get the tea from the staff room, or shall I?"

 

Shikamaru reached for Iruka's orange mug. "I'll get it."

 

Iruka nodded and waved him off, then sat behind his desk to dig his bento box from the drawer. "So..." He pried open the box. "Remember when I told you guys to pack you book bags light for today?"

 

Silence fell on the room. The kids swapped blank looks.

 

Iruka lifted his brow. "Seriously, how many of you guys remembered to pack your book bags light?"

 

A goodly number of hands went up.

 

"Good." Iruka smiled. "You'll be going home straight after the obstacle course, remember? This means you'll be wearing those book bags while you run the course -- in the rain."

 

More than a few faces transformed into open horror. Moaning and a few almost-cuss-words popped out.

 

Shikamaru stepped into the room and frowned. He set Iruka's mug on the desk then perched on the desk's corner.

 

Iruka passed Shikamaru his bento box. "They just found out that they're wearing their book bags during the course."

 

Shikamaru's brows lifted. He nodded toward Iruka and spoke, his words pitched to carry all the way to the back of the room. "Well, ninja carry back-packs so it'll be almost like doing it for real."

 

Silence dropped on the class again and looks of surprise were exchanged. Whispers broke out.

 

Iruka nodded at Shikamaru. "Yep, unlike that obstacle course down in the basement, my kids will get a taste of what it's really like to be ninja."

 

Looks of determination flashed across thirty-some-odd little faces.

 

Shikamaru pried open his lunch box and withdrew his chopsticks from his belt pouch. "Same course as last time?"

 

Iruka nodded. "It's been renovated somewhat since you did it." He scowled. "Setting up all those balls in the rain last night was a pain in the butt though."

 

Shikamaru curled his lip. "I'll bet." He dug into his lunch. "This is good."

 

Iruka smiled. "Thanks." He nodded. "Oh, and I appreciate your assistance during the trails." He smiled sourly. "I normally have to handle the whole thing myself."

 

Shikamaru flashed a smile. "We make a good team."

 

Iruka held up his chopsticks. "Oh, that reminds me!" He looked over at his students. "Since this is gonna be seriously tough, I'm changing the rules, a little."

 

The kids looked back at him in expectation.

 

Iruka set his chopsticks down. "The rain is going to make things extra slippery, so it's okay to help each other get through things. Truthfully, in a real ninja situation, you would help each other."

 

Shikamaru nodded and swallowed. "That's right. When you're put into teams, you're expected to help each other."

 

One little hand went up. "Even if you don't like them?"

 

Shikamaru looked at Iruka in panic.

 

Iruka nudged Shikamaru and spoke softly. "Tell them what you learned."

 

Shikamaru straightened up on Iruka's desk and faced the watching kids. "You know, when I first met Hyuuga, Neji, I couldn't stand him." He pasted on his customary scowl. "I thought he was stuck up, and bossy, and..." He coughed. "All kinds of other mean things." He looked away. "And he didn't like me either." He looked back at the kids. "Then came the chuunin exams. He didn't like me, but he helped me when I needed it. In fact, he saved my life." He shrugged. "Now we're...best friends."

 

Curious looks passed between kids that normally didn't look at each other.

 

Iruka nodded. "Well put." He'd definitely have to pry the details of that story from Shikamaru when he wasn't paying attention. He closed his lunch box, looked up at his class, and raised his voice to be heard over the chatter. "Oh, and one more thing, all you have to do to pass, is get to the other side."

 

The kids exchanged glances then nodded.

 

He lowered his brows. "But remember -- everyone must pass! If one gets left behind, you can forget about Saturday's secret lesson."

 

Sighs were heaved but nods happened too.

 

Iruka picked up his orange mug. "Good! Pack your book bags. We're heading out as soon as lunch ends."

 

Excited chatter broke out.

 

Shikamaru leaned close to Iruka. "Sneaking in teamwork lessons, eh?"

 

Iruka nodded and his smile faded. "I keep wondering... If I'd made more of an effort to push teamwork, Naruto might have made more friends, and maybe it would have helped Sasuke...connect with more of his peers."

 

Shikamaru smiled wryly. "Naruto has lots of friend now." He looked down at his tea and sighed. "I doubt anything could have helped Sasuke." He looked at Iruka and expression was bleak. "He didn't want help."

 

Iruka looked down at his desk. "I know. I knew it then too, but still..."

 

Shikamaru shrugged. "You can't save the world. It won't let you."

 

Iruka raised his brow and a slight smile lifted his lips. "Wow, those are awfully wise words."

 

Shikamaru's expression scrunched into one of perplexity. "Yeah, I know. I wonder where I heard it?"

 

Iruka chuckled.

 

Eventually, the bell rang ending lunch and Iruka marched his little hellions out of the school, into the rain, and onto the far field where the obstacle course awaited them.

 

The course wasn't large, but it was wet and very muddy. There were walls to climb up, tree trunks to walk across, and pipes to crawl through, complete with puddles. Strung between them were ladders of soggy rope, ladders of sodden branches, and ladders of slippery pipe. There was also a rope bridge over a scummy pond made from a single rope with a rope over head to hang onto, and a few ropes to swing over various puddles and thorn bushes.

 

For added fun, Iruka had hung swinging tennis balls to avoid. They were equipped with sparkler-grade explosion tags that would go off with the slightest touch -- even under water.

 

The trial was punctuated with screams of alarm, but far more often, groans of annoyance and outright laughter. Sparklers went off, but many more stayed dormant.

 

Iruka monitored it closely for accidents, as did Shikamaru. The kids slipped all over the place, so more than a few got bumps, bruises, and scratches, but no broken bones or major cuts. His sticky bandage supply got a little low, but he didn't have to break out any major medical supplies or even use much healing chakra.

 

Best of all, the kids that slipped were helped by their classmates to get right back on and try again.

 

Konohamaru and his two cohorts, pig-tailed Moegi and spectacle-wearing Udon, finished first, but they stayed at the exit standing in the rain. Twenty minutes later, Konohamaru and his two cohorts were still standing there in the rain.

 

Puzzled, Iruka stepped out of bushes. "You guys passed, you can go home."

 

The Konohamaru shrugged. "Nah, we'll just stay and...congratulate everybody when they come out." Moegi and Udon joined him and nodding and all three gave Iruka huge and very fake smiles.

 

Iruka blinked. Ah, they're watching for stragglers. He smiled. "Okay!" He went back into the course.

 

All of them made it out in good time, except Kinaki, the smallest and quietest student in Iruka's class.

 

Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon paced the exit for a good ten minutes clearly waiting on Kinaki, the only one left.

 

Konohamaru suddenly cussed up a blue streak and went back in, his two cohorts right behind him.

 

From behind the henge of a bush, Iruka watched with more than a little interest.

 

Konohamaru found Kinaki stuck in one of the trunk tunnels. The Third Hokage's grandson wasn't gentle by any means. He dragged the boy out by the collar.

 

All three of them forced Kinaki over and through every obstacle, tugging, pulling, and occasionally pinching, sprinkled with threats, and outright begging.

 

Watching their slow progress, Iruka made plans to drill little Kinaki through that course at least twice more before the year ended.

 

They practically crawled out of the exit.

 

Iruka met the four of them with a smile. "Excellent! Everyone made it out, everyone passed!"

 

Konohamaru grabbed Kinaki around the boy's neck and gave him a hard noogie on the top of his head. "Hear that, you passed!"

 

Konohamaru's two cohorts grabbed onto the boy and added their noogies too.

 

Kinaki yelped and kicked at the treatment, but he laughed too.

 

Iruka leaned close to Konohamaru. "Tell your team, good work."

 

Konohamaru flashed him a broad smile and nodded.

 

Iruka stepped back and waved them toward the back gate. "You're all free to go home!"

 

Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon grabbed Kinaki by the arms and dragged him off to the gate.

 

Iruka sighed heavily and shivered just a little. "Thank the gods that's over." Every inch of him was soaked to the bone and plastered with mud. He didn't want to think about what was in his hair.

 

Shikamaru stepped out of the bushes looking extremely bedraggled and very annoyed. "Gods, what a pain." He stopped to wring out one side of his soggy coat, making a puddle below him. "And to think, you do this every year?"

 

Iruka dropped a sodden arm over the Nara's muddy shoulder and smiled. "It doesn't rain every year."

 

Shikamaru rolled his eyes to give Iruka a bland glare. "Oh, joy."

 

Iruka grinned and urged the Nara to walk with him toward the back gate. "According to the weather report, it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow?"

 

Slogging along at his side, Shikamaru shook his head. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

 

Iruka patted his shoulder, just to hear the squelching, and grinned. "Tell you what, since you were such an enormous help today, go home, scrub the mud off, and meet me at the bath house in two hours, my treat. Sound good?"

 

Shikamaru lifted his brow. "Can I bring a friend?"

 

Iruka gave him a mock scowl. "As long as your friend pays his own way in."

 

Shikamaru smiled. "Deal."

 

They parted at the back gate and Iruka squelched his way toward home. Hell week was finally over. After tomorrow, he wouldn't see his little demons for three whole weeks.

 

Once upon a time, the summer break had only lasted two weeks. They'd added a third to accommodate the travel time it took to go to and from the summer Chuunin Exams. Iruka had no plans to travel, but he was glad for that third week just the same.

 

Best of all, he didn't have go back to mission room duty until the following week.

 

~ * ~

 

The instant Iruka closed his apartment door behind him, he peeled off every strip of clothing he had on and dropped the whole mess right there on the alcove floor. Naked, wet, and shivering from cold, he stepped up into his apartment and bolted straight down the hall to the bathroom.

 

Under a steaming hot shower, he used his scrub brush and fully half a bottle of liquid soap to scour every last speck of mud from his skin. All too soon, his hot water ran out.

 

Wrapped in his fluffiest bath robe, and still cold, Iruka made himself a hot cup of black tea and carried it into his bedroom to get dressed. Sipping his tea, he dug through his dresser for a pair of red cotton boxers and a pair of warm socks, then dragged on a pair of comfortably faded jeans. He also pulled out a cream, flannel, long-sleeved pullover, generally worn under his uniform on cold days. Once that was on, and tucked into his jeans, he slid into long pale cream, knitted wool sweater. He was still cold.

 

A quick look at the clock told him he had twenty-five minutes to get all the way across town. Unfortunately, making those shadow clones earlier in the week had eaten into the bulk of his chakra supply so he couldn't teleport. He was going to have to roof-top hop it to make it in time.

 

Iruka yanked his long black wool overcoat from the closet and dug out his sneakers. Coat over his arm and sneakers in hand, he rushed out into the alcove and scowled at the pile of wet muddy clothes still on the floor. "Damn it!"

 

He hung the coat on the wall hook and skidded into his kitchen for a plastic trash bag. No way in hell was he dirtying his laundry basket with mud. He raced back with the trash bag, pulled out his sodden hip kit and dug his wallet from his pants pocket, then threw his wet belongings in the bag. He carted the bag into the kitchen and dropped it on the floor by his washer. He'd take care of that later.

 

He shoved his wallet into his pants pocket, thanking the heavens that he'd thought to wrap the thing in plastic. He'd ruined one too many wallets during a rainy exam. With all do haste, he pulled on his sneakers, shrugged into his coat and pulled the scarf from the pocket. "Okay!" Now he just needed to do something to keep from getting soaked on the way there.

 

An idea came to him. He flashed through some hand-signs. A bright blue glow pulsed around him then disappeared. Iruka nodded. That should make him fairly water resistant. He'd still get a little damp, but the bulk of the rain would be reflected away from him. True waterproofing was a bad idea -- it tended to cut off one's air-supply.

 

Iruka stepped out of the apartment, locked his door, and set a minor trap. It wouldn't stop anyone with any skill from entering, but if someone other than him entered his apartment by the doors or the windows it would set off a warning signal that he'd get no matter how far away he way. Ready at last, Iruka rushed up the stairs to the roof exit and dashed into the rainy night.

 

~ * ~