Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Indecent Exposure ~ A Naruto Fan-Fic (K/I) ❯ Chapter 20

Indecent Exposure

A 'Naruto' fan-fiction by Ookami Kasumi

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~ Twenty ~

 

Iruka awoke on Sunday morning and slipped out to do his morning jog. The familiar aches and pains were back. Apparently, Neji had been right on the ball about Gai's exercises having a delayed reaction. Even so, he was able to actually able to do two whole circuits.

 

When he got home, he took a quick shower and changed into some faded jeans and a faded green Konoha Softball Team t-shirt, then had a restrained breakfast of rice, miso soup and fish. After washing the breakfast dishes, Iruka broke out the mop, bucket, sponges, various cleaning supplies, and the rubber gloves. Kakashi was coming for a visit Monday night, and he wanted his place clean.

 

By the time Iruka had every surface dusted and scrubbed, every window squeaky clean, and the hard-wood floors dry-mopped and lightly polished to a shine, it was two full hours after noon. His stomach growled -- loudly. It was beyond lunch time.

 

Iruka trotted his bucket of cleaning supplies back to his kitchen, put them away, and prepared some chicken breasts and vegetables for lunch.

 

While munching at the tiny kitchen table, Iruka looked up at the broad white ceiling and frowned. "Maybe I should check the master seal while I'm at it?"

 

Iruka finished his lunch, washed his few dishes, then reached in between his refrigerator and the far right wall to pull out his a-frame ladder. Setting it over his shoulder, he carried it into the center of the living room and set it up. Standing at the top of the ladder, he pulled a senbon needle from the side seam of his jeans, pricked the side of his thumb, and smeared the small splotch of blood on the blank white ceiling.

 

The tiny splotch of red quickly became a deep stain of black that spread out into a spiral of characters and sigils. The markings continued to bloom into existence all the way across the entire ceiling in a massive array that the reached from wall to wall. The chakra wires lining the seams were the ceiling met the walls ignited to incandescence. That incandescence ignited more wires until every ceiling edge and corner in the whole apartment from bedroom to bathroom glowed with active power. Other arrays painted across other ceilings bloomed into existence.

 

Iruka smiled. Yep the master seal was quite active.

 

He stepped off the ladder to check the wires and the other arrays. The kitchen array was properly functioning and doing its bug-repelling thing. The bathroom array was definitely doing its mold-repelling thing. The hallway seals were almost solid traps involving needles, bladed throwing stars, kunai knives, chakra-stain paintballs, plus other small projectile weapons -- and one huge net.

 

On his bedroom ceiling, the seal was almost as complicated as the master array in the living room. This one collected free-floating excess chakra from the other apartment tenants, and anyone that happened to be passing by. The array then adjusted the chakra to his particular frequency and funneled it directly into his body while he slept to refuel his reserves and heal damage. What his body couldn't use was channeled by chakra wire into the master array to not only store it like a battery, but also power the entire set up so that he didn't need to use one drop from his personal reserves.

 

In short, once the array had been made, the entire set-up functioned independently. Even if he burned his personal supply of chakra completely out, his traps, the hidden door to his closet, and the double-layer henge that hid his seals from prying eyes would still function normally.

 

Sarutobi, the third Hokage had been quite impressed.

 

Sadly, he couldn't take credit for its creation. His dad had come up with it to make up for his own low chakra level. However, when it had become apparent that Iruka had taken after his father in that fashion, his dad had taken the time to show him how to make one specifically for himself. It had been one of the last things they'd done together.

 

Sighing, Iruka went back into his living room and climbed the ladder to smear yet another drop of blood on the master array. Under his gaze, the whole thing faded from sight leaving his ceilings plain white and his chakra wires invisible to the untrained eye. He then carried his ladder back into the kitchen to stow it.

 

One of the good things about cleaning was that while his hands were busy it freed his mind to think. With a sly smile on his lips, and inspiration brimming in his brain, Iruka went to his notebooks, still on the living room table. He plopped down on his couch, inked up his brush, and with a perfectly steady hand, he began to sketch out the rough draft of a seal that would invoke the sexy jutsu.

 

It was almost a pity that he didn't actually have a target in mind for his wonderful prank. He picked up one of the blank tags and a chilling smile suddenly curved his lips. "But it never hurts to be prepared."

 

~ * ~

 

A few hours later, the light from the setting sun spilled through the living room window painting the room in orange and red. Iruka rose from his couch rubbing his eyes, and stretched out the kink in his neck. Time to make supper. His grumbling stomach had finally gotten too loud to ignore.

 

Iruka looked down at the black lacquer table and the two deceptively innocent plain cream paper tags. The seals were done. Now he merely needed to test one of them. He nibbled on his bottom lip. If he'd had the chakra, he'd simply test one on himself, but sadly, he didn't.

 

He needed a test subject.

 

Iruka wandered into his kitchen to rummage through his fridge while thinking hard. Shikamaru...? He might do it, but he'd definitely want a copy of the triggering seal to make his own. However, he might also want to know where Iruka had come by his extensive knowledge of seals. Iruka winced. Maybe not Shikamaru. He genuinely liked the kid, but he wasn't quite sure if he trusted him with that large of a secret just yet.

 

Anko-chan was right out. She'd been a victim of one too many seals already.

 

Oh wait, Kakashi...! He seemed the playful type. He might actually go for it...! No, no... He was skilled in seals too which meant he might be far more curious as to how a low-chakra chuunin had come up with it.

 

Iruka closed his fridge to paw through his cabinets while going through his list of friends that might let him play with them. He came to two conclusions at the same time. The first being that he couldn't think of a single person he knew who wouldn't want to know how he'd been able to make the tag in the first place. The second and more important conclusion was that he really needed to go grocery shopping. There wasn't a damned thing to make for dinner.

 

Sighing, Iruka padded back into the living room to collect his notebooks and put them back in his concealed closet, then wandered into his bedroom to change his clothes. Maybe he'd think of someone while he was out?

 

Iruka walked out of his apartment just as the last bit of sunlight faded, leaving the sky a rich twilight blue. However, despite the closeness to full summer, the night air was more than a little chilly. Iruka shivered a little and reached down to button his deep blue denim jacket halfway up over his black hooded zip-up sweatshirt, glad he'd thought to wear both over his un-tucked red flannel shirt. For some reason, he always felt the cold worse when his chakra level was low. Of course wearing a pair of low-cut jeans that barely covered his hip-bones and exposed more belly than either jacket covered could have had a lot to do with it.

 

He had barely taken ten steps when a tingle against his awareness warned him that chakra was gathering right in front of him. He froze mid-step only to realize that the signature -- no two signatures, were more than a little familiar.

 

Amidst a blue-black chakra flash, Shikamaru appeared in dark jeans and his brown leather bomber jacket. Less than a heartbeat later, a deep violet flash announced Neji's appearance in his nearly floor-sweeping black leather coat.

 

Iruka pasted on a sunny smile. "Hi guys, what's up?"

 

Shikamaru folded his arms and glanced away, his cheeks blooming with a blush that was quite visible under the streetlamp they stood under. "I'm leaving tonight. Chuunin examiner stuff."

 

Neji rolled his lavender eyes. "We're inviting you to dine out with us before Shikamaru has to leave for the next two weeks."

 

Iruka blinked then his smile warmed. "I'd be honored to join you, but um..." He winced. "Can we make it somewhere close? I'm afraid I can't teleport at the moment."

 

Neji abruptly focused on Iruka and his eyes ignited to incandescent lavender-white. His gaze darted about Iruka's body and he frowned. "You spent that much chakra healing...?"

 

Shikamaru's head came up to look at Neji.

 

Crap! Iruka's face violently filled with heat. "Neji, that's rude!"

 

Undeterred, Neji focused below Iruka's belt and one black brow rose. A wicked smile curled his lips. "Well, well, someone certainly had a good time after we left the bathhouse."

 

Shikamaru turned to Iruka and the most ungodly smile curled his lips. "Kinky."

 

Iruka barely held back his groan and dropped his head covering his face with his loose dark hair. "Can we talk about something else, please?"

 

Shikamaru stepped close to grab Iruka's left arm. "Sure, at dinner."

 

Neji stepped close and grabbed Iruka's right arm. "My apologies, but we have reservations." He reached out to lock hands with Shikamaru. A blinding whorl of perfectly woven black and violet chakra swirled around all three of them. The power snapped then popped.

 

The power cleared and Iruka opened his eyes to find himself standing directly across the street from one of the better steak houses. He winced, guys, this place is awfully..." Expensive. "I really don't think I'm dressed for it."

 

Neji snorted. "Oh please, we're in jeans too."

 

Shikamaru kept hold of Iruka's arm, dragging him into the street. "Food's on me." His gaze slid to Iruka. "As long as you cover the entertainment."

 

Iruka stiffened. "Entertainment...?" What the hell...?

 

Neji pulled on Iruka's other arm. "Relax, we just want to hear a few of your more interesting stories."

 

Iruka relaxed. "Oh, okay." He let them haul him toward the restaurant's entrance. Two steps from the door, Iruka felt a violent and tangled snarl of chakra gathering right where they were. He grabbed the arms of both boys and yanked them back two steps.

 

Three ninja in black cargo pants and dark blue turtlenecks suddenly occupied where they'd been standing. They weren't remarkable to look at. All of them had dark hair and dark eyes with rather plain faces, but Iruka definitely recognized their chakra. They were the same three assholes from the bath house.

 

The tallest of the three scowled at Iruka and his companions. "Watch where you're standing."

 

Temptation sizzled in Iruka's blood. Temptation being the newly made tags burning a hole in his jacket pocket. No, no, it hasn't been tested yet. Pasting a mildly startled expression on his face, Iruka drew his arms from his companions, freeing all of their hands, just in case, and bowed slightly. "Our apologies, we had no idea that this was a landing point." Actually, he knew damned good and well that it wasn't a landing point, a spot reserved specifically for inbound teleportation, but he wasn't in the mood for a fight -- not with his chakra practically useless.

 

Neji's mouth tightened and his gaze narrowed. "That's because it isn't. The landing point is across the street."

 

Shikamaru's gaze narrowed and a chilling smile curved his lips. "Oops, was that a miss?"

 

Iruka barely kept from rolling his eyes. Jeeze, are they trying to get into a fight?

 

The second of the three jounin narrowed his gaze on Shikamaru and smiled. "Better be careful little chuunin. You don't want to bite off more than you can chew."

 

Iruka's temper snapped and his smile sharpened. On second thought, hello, test subject.

 

The second tallest blinked at Iruka. "Oh, if it isn't the cute little schoolteacher. Out with some of your students, sensei?"

 

Hmm... Choices, choices... Iruka's smile was sunny and very genuine. He could even feel the dimple in his cheek showing. "As a matter of fact I am, and if you'll excuse us, we have reservations." He nudged both boys ahead of him while palming the tag from his jacket pocket, then stepped past the three jounin. Since not one of the three ninja bothered to give way, Iruka was forced to brush up against one of them.

 

~ * ~