Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Iruka's obsession ❯ Part 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Part 3

 

Iruka walked down the staircase ducking cobwebs and hanging wires, scowling at his own stupidity. It was Sunday; a six o clock on a Sunday afternoon when any sensible person would be at home getting some much needed rest before the start of the week. Instead, here he was trawling the basement to satisfy his curiosity. It was disheartening to see all the cabinets in the basement, arranged in some random order. There were numerous filling cabinets, most of them taller than Iruka, filling the room to capacity. It seemed, at least to the inquisitive chuunin, that in the beginning, the filling cabinets had been placed alone the wall, leaving a gab between the object and wall. However when all the wall spaces were taken up, the cabinets were dropped in some random order probably with the intention of confusing the searcher. Perhaps, Iruka thought wryly, one of these contained the location of the forbidden scroll.

 

The Academy basement was a storehouse of records for generations of students. There were records of just about everybody who had ever walked through its doors, be it staff, student or parent: their past papers, assessments, confiscated goods, lost and found property, wooden practice swords, a ten foot wooden pole with holes drilled in the middle….

 

Iruka blinked in the weak light and looked around at the sheer mountain of …stuff and wondered what had driven him to do this. It wasn't as if he'd had anything better to do since his mission shift had ended a little ahead of time. One of the junior chuunins had sounded the perimeter alarm, but in the end it was decided it was a false alarm. By then, they'd shut down the mission desk and taken their defensive positions so all they had to do was go home afterwards.

 

Since he had gotten off earlier than expected and Kakashi was conveniently out of the country, Iruka decided to do some cleaning in the Academy basement like any other dedicated teacher would. Not that he was afraid that Kakashi might somehow get wind of Iruka's sudden decision to go through the great Copy-nin's past school records -- he was not omniscient.

 

Iruka attempted to discover how the Academy files were organized. At first, he thought the files were in alphabetical order, but revised his opinion after looking through two file cabinets. Perhaps they were in order of each student's year of entry to the Academy. That theory was also dashed when he realized all the different clans had different filing sections. Who knew so many Hyuugas had passed through the Academy, or Uchihas for that matter. Not that the Uchiha file cabinet was to expand anytime soon, unless Sasuke took it into his head to reproduce…or Itachi did, which was a horrifying thought.

 

Did the Uchihas even know what sex was? They were the most asexual students Iruka had ever encountered, and that was saying a lot. Maybe they just copied the moves with their Sharingan and reproduced…literally.

 

All right, the dust was getting to him.

 

Irritated, Iruka stooped down to read the contents of the bottom drawer of the file cabinet he was searching and froze.

 

He had been a teacher far too long not to know when a spit ball or other object was aimed at the back of his head. He continued to crouch down, eyes intent on the file cabinet and at the last moment jumped sideways, using his thigh muscles and right arm.

 

Something heavy, large and sharp whistled though the air and landed where he had been not one second ago. The floor cracked under the weight of the blow, the filing cabinet titled to one side, and air blasted outwards from the weapon like a small explosion. Had Iruka channeled chakra into his leap as he would have usually done, his attackers would have guessed Iruka's intent and tracked his movements. Good thing he'd always used his chakra reserve sparingly.

 

Iruka rolled in mid-motion, cursing the filing cabinets that hampered his movements as he attached himself, feet first, to the closest cabinet. Then he dropped cautiously to the floor, landing on one knee, to make himself a smaller target. Iruka studied the man before him, his right hand was in his weapons pouch before he was even aware of it.

 

The enemy was definitely not from Konoha, Iruka decided, looking at the Mist forehead protector the man was wearing, using it as a tie to hold back his dark hair. He was about Iruka's age, not young enough to be strolling into enemy territory casually, and probably with some battle experience; he wore black pants, dark blue long-sleeved top, flak jacket and thigh-high boots and carried an oddly carved sword - which had made a foot-sized indent in the floor of the basement.

 

“I take it this is not a diplomatic mission,” Iruka said dryly, trying to assess the situation. The Mist-nin had to be a jounin or even high level. No one else would dare to infiltrate Konaha.'Damn!' Iruka thought, `the perimeter alarm had been legitimate': the intruder had simply hidden himself in the least-occupied building in the whole village, and Iruka had had the luck to stumble upon him. The only break Iruka had was that the other guy was just as startled as he was.

 

“What are you doing here?” the Mist-nin spoke, confirming Iruka's suspicion.

 

“I work here,” Iruka said, throwing three shurikens at the intruder before flipping back neatly. He missed the sword that flashed overhead by a good two feet, but the blast of chakra-laced air accompanying it caught him squarely in the chest, throwing him against a particularly hard file cabinet. Even as he gasped for air, Iruka managed to throw three more shurikens, buying himself enough time to dodge behind another file cabinet while practically sucking in his chakra, masking it to make himself undetectable.

 

He slipped between the wall and a particularly large storage cabinet, trying to assess the situation. One, the Mist-nin was extremely good at shielding his chakra, so good that Iruka had not noticed anything until the man had shown up behind him. Two, anyone who could mask himself that well had to be a highly skilled ninja.[1] Perhaps better than Kakashi at chakra control, though why Iruka was comparing the annoying guy with a big sword to the Copy-nin was beyond his comprehension.

 

“They make you work here on Sundays here in Konoha?” the man actually sounded amused. “What are you… the janitor?”

 

Iruka did not answer, knowing that to do so would betray his position, crouching down and moving forward through the gap at the back of the cabinet. There were huge spiders on webs with the tensile strength of chakra wire; Iruka, who'd always detested such creatures, had to bite his lower lip to stop himself from hissing in distaste as he crawled. He was not going to let the Mist-nin get away. It was far too dangerous, and since the general alarm was called off there'd be civilians on the road. Children playing in the last of the sunlight. He was not going to let anyone get hurt when he could stop it.

 

For that, he had to disarm the Mist-nin, whose strength at the moment seem to be his sword, which channeled the user's chakra in a blast of wind along with the normal blow. There was an eardrum-shattering explosion overhead, and the row of cabinets that had been covering Iruka was suddenly cut in half.

 

Iruka threw himself down flat on the floor, cursing as pieces of paper, metal fragments and spiders rained down on him. He was bleeding from a few scratches, and his right ear was ringing. The Mist-nin had just swung his sword in an arc around the room (by the sound of it), shearing away everything to waist height. A good strategy, but at the same time, overkill in Iruka's opinion. His enemy was strong but tended to be a little heavy handed.

 

Iruka thought he'd better change tactics. He had been trying to crawl until he was behind the intruder, but now he had exactly half the cover he'd had before. He got to his feet then rushed forward before the sword could cleave him in two and took cover behind another sheared-off filing cabinet. He got off unscathed, throwing two more shurikens to buy him some time to dodge. He was running out of shurikens; he did not think smoke bombs were effective against a wind weapon, and using explosive tags in a confined space was likely to blow up everything, so he was keeping that as a last resort.

 

The first thing he had to do was separate the sword from the user; he pulled out his kunai and leapt over the cabinet he had been hiding behind, still not channeling any chakra. The Mist-nin had been looking slightly to his left, which gave Iruka the time to swiftly throw the kunai at the man. He dodged easily, but again, Iruka had expected it. He was not the best fighter in the village, and his chakra levels were below average, but he was very aware of what he could do and knew how to use the basics effectively. After all, he'd spent over five years teaching the basics, every day to all the future geniuses of the village.

 

He used the opening created by the kunai throw to sprinkle the floor liberally with his makibishis. They were his own, with a piece of his hair embedded in each of the weapons, so he could find them on the ground and not step on them. Then in midair, Iruka twisted, landing on the wall next to a filing cabinet. Then he went over the seals slowly, one by one so the man watching him could see exactly where he was heading, then called out, just in case the man missed the obvious, “Katon: GÅkakyÅ« no Jutsu.”

 

Iruka watched the other man bring down his sword, and instead of breathing out fire, replaced his body with a filing cabinet. Idiot, did that Mist-nin think Iruka was going to use Blaze Of Glory in a confined room full of dry paper and other flammable objects? He threw a kunai at the Mist-nin and even as the next volley of chakra wind reached him, Iruka replaced his body with another file cabinet, throwing kunais at each move.

 

Iruka did the body replacement with cabinet move in a circular pattern, letting the intruder think he knew exactly where he was going to appear next, then instead of switching places with the cabinet next to him, he switched with the one behind him, using a henge to make himself look like a cabinet. The Mist-nin automatically went through the motion of smashing the cabinets, turning in a circle as he did. The opportunity came as Iruka had planned; his enemy was facing slightly away from Iruka. If Iruka were to wait for the sword to point away from him completely, he might never get the chance. No matter how small an amount, Iruka was using chakra to keep up the illusion of looking like a filing cabinet, and he was going to be detected sooner rather than later. His enemy was a Mist-nin, not a moron, and he was going to eventually notice that his target was not switching places with cabinets.

 

Iruka leapt over the debris on the floor, aiming for the shoulder of the man; he had no intention of killing him, just making him drop the sword. His kunai actually hit its target but bounced back. Body amour -damn.

 

Iruka jumped back hastily as the sword swiped at him and then froze as the Mist-nin changed his tactics. He lifted his sword above his head, his face a mask of concentration, and Iruka could feel the massive chakra build-up - it was like waiting for a hurricane to break. The edge of the sword was glowing yellow-white, almost pulsating as the charge built up, and Iruka could see the air move around it. Iruka smiled faintly--finally the man was going to use his full strength to squash him.

 

The air was rotating in a small vortex overhead, the friction causing small lightning flashes. Iruka swallowed. He had to do something fast before the full power of the sword was unleashed. Iruka thought over his options. Distraction - what he needed was distraction, and for that he needed to move quickly. He pulled out his explosive tag with a scowl, wrapped it around the hilt of his kunai and leapt forward.

 

He threw his last kunai at the final moment, leapt aside and brought up his fingers in a familiar seal. Iruka knew Kage Bunshin no Jutsu would be more effective, but he did not have the necessary chakra reserves as Naruto did. Shadow clone technique caused the user's chakra to be divided equally among the clones he or she had created; only in Iruka's case, that would mean he would not have enough left to boost himself off a tree branch.

 

He created simple clones of himself. About twenty, enough to fill the room and then some. Then he used their cover to leap forward once again, bringing all his chakra into his hands, the same way he would when sticking to a surface. He was going to take some damage, but he could do it.

 

Iruka knew the Mist-nin had body armor; his boots probably protected his feet better than the open-toed sandals of the Konaha ninjas did, though it probably was not the best footwear for chakra concentration. The sword was the most dangerous, and the thing was coming down at him like the side of the Hokage mountain crashing down. Iruka jumped towards his enemy head on, letting the Mist-nin think he was going for a suicidal move. Then, when he was exactly in line with one of his clones, he did another simple body switch, this time transforming the cabinet to look like him and leaving all his chakra reserves there. The entire room shuddered as the sword made contact with the metal frame-the hard object which was supposed to be treated for everything from termites in the files to fire hazards but apparently not to wind-based swords as the sword cleaved through it.

 

But Iruka's plan held, since the sword did not go through it cleanly - instead, it stopped in the middle, stuck there by Iruka's chakra trap. Perfect--Iruka had his opportunity, he realized, even as he sailed through the air. He had been practicing-- he had told Hatake Kakashi though the man hadn't believed him. He really had been pushing his body since his last encounter with Mizuki.

 

He might not be as fast as Gai or even some of the other jounins, but he could move when he needed to. He aimed for the place where the Mist-nin's neck met the shoulder--there was no armor capable of covering that place, unless it was an overlapping type, and no ninja would be seen dead in an overlapping amour. It played hell with their movements.

 

It was not the perfect lion combo--Sasuke could keep it--but Iruka spun in mid-air, and brought the heel of his foot down hard. The sword hand shook….Iruka drove the last kunai into the hand even as he moved back. The Mist-nin let go of his sword and took a step back …and Iruka manipulated his chakra through the makibishis on the floor and held his enemy in place. He had been rather impressed that Ino had used a similar technique at the last chunin preliminary fights against Sakura. So she had been paying attention to his classes and not just worrying about flower arrangements. It was basics for any ninja to know that you can channel chakra through body parts easily--even if those parts were not attached to the body.

 

The intruder could move his arms, but his feet were firmly held in place by the chakra rope, and Iruka switched to close combat. He concentrated all he had into his fist. It wasn't much, but he was physically strong and could pack a heck of a right hook when needed.

 

Hell…he brought up his right hand, and it was blocked by a massive fist. Iruka bit back a groan as his fist was crushed in an iron grip, and the Mist-nin swung his free hand at Iruka who had to lean back to dodge. The enemy aimed lower, going for Iruka's neck and again, he had to dodge. The chuunin was aware that he had to do something fast before the Mist-nin won by shear strength alone. The man had tremendous upper body strength, probably from swinging that enormous sword. Iruka called up all the makibishis on the floor, roping them and drawing them towards him, through the Mist-nin.

 

Shit…Iruka knew the man was going to block them. He was too fast…needed a distraction…fast….

 

Iruka had to call forth one of his last surprises--Naruto's specialty technique ,Sexy no jutsu. It as the only Henge he could do without using seals or voice commands.

 

Iruka's female version was similar to his male self - a small-breasted, long haired brunette with one important difference. She had no scar on her nose. Instead, she wore long diaphanous robes which left little to the imagination. He cringed at using such a childish jutsu, but with both hands occupied, it was the simplest he could create.

 

Most of the makibishis hit the amour and bounced, but some made it through. The Mist-nin shuddered slightly and a faint trickle of blood appeared in a corner of his lip. His grip faltered for a bit which was the break Iruka was waiting for. He drew back and clapped his hands over the ears of the enemy hard, forming a 100% air tight seal using his chakra so the blow was more effective. As the Mist-nin reeled back clasping his shattered ear drums, the chuunin drew back. Iruka had bought enough time, he thought, feeling pleased as he heard the familiar footsteps. Reinforcements were coming , drawn by the enemy chakra. Really, did the man think he could call up a wind storm and not draw attention to himself? Iruka smirked as he jumped back, feeling satisfied.

 

 

[1] I know Iruka is doing the same thing but he doesn't realize he does coz he's got a slight case of underestimating himself.

 

A/N- thank you for the reviews. I really do appreciate them.