Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Iruka's obsession ❯ Part 4 ( Chapter 4 )

A/n -this is a shortish chapter. When I poked around trying to find Iruka's age, I found out he was the only person to grow younger from the 1st to the 2nd databooks. Databook 1 sez 25; Databook 2 sez 23. Now, as a control, Kiba is listed as 12 in the first one and 13 in the second one; a good amount of time actually passed in the series from the beginning to around the Sasuke in a Bucket arc, which is covered by the second book, which explains that.

 

So, Naruto is 12 at the beginning of the series, so it's 12 years ago that all the crap goes down, and importantly for us, Iruka is orphaned. The two databooks are consistent that Iruka graduates the academy at 11 and becomes a chuunin at 16, but we know he was still a student when his parents were killed, because he was a cheerful little screwup in school. If we have him at 22 at the beginning of the series, he's 10 when he's orphaned, and thus has at least a year in the academy without parents before he graduates. And he's always made sense to me as young.

 

Kakashi is 27 in the second databook.

 

So, I'll stick to Iruka being around 21 or 22 in the time gap which is why he comes out a little young in this fic.

 

Sorry for the long explanation. I sorta cut and pasted this off straussmonster who explained it out for me.

 

Part 4

 

Iruka was sure that dying of humiliation was a possibility, even for a Konoha ninja. He tried to close his ears to the sound of laughter but failed miserably. His face was burning, his throat felt clogged, and he wished Genma would choked on his senbon and die. Really.

 

“….knocked out the Mist-nin with a Sexy no Jutsu,” Genma managed to squeeze out before giving way to chuckles. “Had no idea they were so hard-up to be fooled by something with such small boobs…”

 

Iruka had, in his excitement, forgotten to dispel the illusion he had cast on himself, but that was no reason for all the other ninjas who had arrived there to make fun of him. He looked down at his feet and tried to wait it out. It wasn't bad - he'd been through worse and come out alive. So what if the others laughed at him a bit, it had been stupid of him to forget to take off the jutsu after he had used it. At least it had been only Genma and Anko who had actually seen him - though he was sure the grapevine would know all about it by the end of the day.

 

He tried hard not to shuffle his feet and looked around the waiting room as he stood, grateful that at least they hadn't asked him why he'd been in the school basement at six on a Sunday afternoon. They all probably thought he lived in the school or something idiotic like that. Most people did not see Iruka as anything beyond a school teacher, so anything associated with the Academy was considered pretty normal for him.

 

Then, much to his relief, the Hokage's office door swung open, and Izumo looked out. “Iruka-sensei, go right in. Tsunade-sama is waiting for you.”

 

Iruka was so pissed at being made to wait outside with Genma that he'd almost said he had been the one who had been waiting not the other way around but stopped himself in time. He deliberately brushed past Genma and walked in, ignoring the other man pointedly. True, Genma was not a bad guy on most days-- they worked the mission desk together on certain days, and he had escorted Iruka to the hospital to get his cuts patched up. Still, Iruka wished he could be treated with a little respect instead of like some butterfly who grew teeth all of a sudden - a circus joke.

 

“You look perfectly all right for someone who took out a Mist-jounin,” Tsunade said as Iruka walked inside. “Why don't you sit down, sensei.”

 

There it was again, being treated like an invalid. If Hatake Kakashi was to stagger into the mission room with his intestines hanging out, Tsunade still would still not have offered him a chair.

 

“I'd rather stand,” Iruka said stiffly. “Thank you.”

 

Tsunade smiled faintly, though Iruka couldn't be sure with her hands cupped in front of her face. “Very well then, sensei,” she said abruptly. “Are you hurt anywhere else apart from the obvious scratches I see on the surface.”

 

“No,” Iruka said, a little confused, as he waited for the questioning to start. Surely, she didn't think he <i>lived</i> in the Academy basement.

 

“Is it a family trait?” she asked instead.

 

“Uh!” Iruka knew he was gaping like a fish but could see no other way of reacting.

 

“Your ability to withstand damage,” Tsunade explained briefly. “That sword was formidable, but you managed to avoid any injury apart from a few scratches. I take it you can survive almost anything other than a direct hit.”

 

“I don't have any family traits,” Iruka mumbled, looking down at his feet.

 

“I know,” the Hokage nodded, looking down at a folder on her table, which must have contained his records. “Your mother was a civilian, first generation medi-nin and your father was a jounin -second generation. Not enough time to cultivate a family trait …and you have that….” she waved a hand at him vaguely. “Rather low chakra level, but you manage to utilize it very well. Braced yourself all over and still had some left over for a trap. An ingenious trap at that. And your hand-to hand combat skills…”

 

“Tsunade-sama,” Iruka bit out finally, flinching at her rather teasing smile. “What exactly are you implying?”

 

“You've gone up in level,” she said almost purred. “I was short on people to assign for field assignments.” Then she looked a little thoughtful and nodded. “But I think I'd be just as happy if kids at the Academy manage to learn half of what you know.”

 

Iruka wasn't sure if he was insulted or not. He was sure, had Kakashi or Gai taken out the Mist-nin, Tsunade would not have said anything past <i>”Well done, brat.“</i> The enemy had not been that formidable - Iruka had taken him out without too much of an effort, and if he, a mere chuunin, could take him out, he couldn't have been much.

 

“What did the enemy want?” Iruka asked instead, looking at Shizune, who had walked in just then with the pig in tow.

 

“We really aren't sure,” Tsunade admitted, looking out the windows at the village below. It was dark, and the lights in the streets and the houses looked like stars on the ground. “Ibiki is working on it at the moment, and I do have some theories.”

 

“What?” Iruka demanded finally when it became obvious that the conversation was not about to progress any further. “Should I be worried about more Mist-nins showing up at school at all hours?”

 

“There is a possibility,” Tsunade said with one of her trademark smirks. “But it's highly unlikely that they want to see your naked butt anytime soon.”

 

Iruka flushed and looked down at his sandaled feet while Shizune hissed something at the Hokage. “It wasn't… my butt, technically,” Iruka mumbled out. “It was just…”

 

“Will you stop stuttering, child.” Tsunade, it seemed, did not have time to listen him stumbling through excuses. “Anyway, we had intel that the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were looking to fill their ranks now that some of their members are dead. There was supposed to be some sort of initiation process, and maybe infiltrating Konoha was one of them.”

 

“And the reason he was in the Academy,” Iruka said, a little irritated at being called ”child“. “What was he after, my lesson plans for the next three months?”

 

“Hopefully he was just lying low in a deserted building,” the Hokage said dismissively. “If not, he could have been after the records of a suitable child to accompany him.”

 

“Uh!” Iruka squeezed out. “What do you mean?”

 

“You know,” Tsunade said with a shrug. “These ninjas of the Seven Swords seem to have kids accompanying them most of the time…for whatever reason. Mostly those with some special ability, underaged and abused.”

 

“They do?” Iruka asked, thinking back over what he did know. He rarely thought of such things, since he did not normally go on missions, nor did he really believe half the exaggerated tales Naruto told him. “I see…Zabuza had Haku, Raiga Kurosuki had Ranmaru, and Kisame has Itachi.”

 

“Actually, we hear it's the other way around,” Tsunade said dryly. “If our intel is correct, Itachi has Kisame, daily…in every imaginable position, forward and backward.”

 

Iruka was mortified. He did not want to know about the sex life of one missing-nin by the name of Uchiha Itachi.

 

“Makes you want to give up fish, doesn't it?” The old woman was enjoying his discomfort. Iruka wondered faintly if Kisame's favorite dish was fish or something similar. “We're doubling our guard and keeping ourselves on alert from now on,” the Hokage said briskly as she changed tack. “I do wish the Hatake-brat would come back from the Bird country. We could use him here right now.”

 

At the mention of Kakashi, Iruka was forcibly reminded as to why he had been in the academy basement, as he blushed once more and looked down. “If that is all…” he said weakly.

 

“You can go,” Tsunade said dismissively, pulling out a file from the pile on her table, losing interest in Iruka. However, as Iruka turned to go, he heard the papers rustle behind him, and the blonde spoke. “You know, sensei, we do keep students records for our reference in the room in a red file behind the mission report cabinet,” she said softly. “I hear the filing is done a little differently there.”

 

Iruka squeezed out a small squeak which might have meant anything from “Thank you” to “Good night” then practically ran out of the office.