Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Rebound ❯ Chapter 14 ( Chapter 14 )

Rebound

 

 

By Mija

 

 

Disclaimer~No sadly I still do NOT own Naruto and company. Sorry this is so late and probably not really that great of a chapter, but my writers block is kicking my butt and I am soo trying to break out of its hold and write again. So wish me luck. And I will say that the timeline will deviate from the anime and Manga, since although I have read up to its latest chapters and all, I cant for the life of me recall what order things happened most times lol, so I am going to just use my own timeline if that is ok. Again my stuff is unbetaed so ya there is mistakes and what not, hope it doesnt affect your reading of the story, huggles and smiles Mija...:-) PS. For those who read this on my LJ, for some reason I have not been able to get on my LJ for like months so it wont be posted there, sorry about that. Cant even read others stories unless posted on Communities either, its sad and I feel so deprived of my favorite stories..sniffles.

 

 

 

Chapter 14

 

 

 

~~~It had been a couple of days since Naruto's return and Iruka had to just smile at the change in the village. It was like with Naruto gone, Konoha had held its breath, unable to breath. Ya the villagers had acted excited and happy that Naruto had been gone, but to trained eyes, it was easy to see how diffrent things had changed once the leaf's number one hyperactive, unpredictable knuckle headed ninja had left. The villagers had nothing to complain about, and Naruto's friends seemed as if they were just itching for something to happen, but it never did and it left them a bit sullen and bored so to speak.

 

~~~Well that had all changed the first day Naruto returned. It was like the whole village exhaled that long held breath and came alive once again. Iruka walked through the village and heard whispers and complaints of having the Kyuubi brat back. It made Iruka pissed off to say the least but ironicly it made him smirk as well. He hadn't seen the village so animated in a long while. And Naruto was being his old self. Yes he had grown, in many ways, but being loud and unpredictable would never change for him and thats what made him special and unique, an asset the village would one day realize was one of Konoha's greatest, if only they gave him a chance.

 

~~~As it was Iruka was having a grand time at the rumors running rampant around the village. People were laughing, older ladies were acting all scandalized but thier eyes held a mirth that had been missing. After all the news was big and Iruka couldn't think of a better person to be the butt of all those rumors than one Hatake Kakashi. Speaking of said jounin, Iruka spotted him sitting at a table at a small tea house. Iruka couldn't help himself, he walked over and sat at the copy nin's table, who had his face buried in the manuscript Naruto had gotten him as a gift. At the moment Kakashi was acting as if he hadn't noticed Iruka sitting at his table, uninvited, but Iruka could feel the change in Kakashi's aura the moment he had walked into the tea house. Kakashi knew he was there but he would be damned if he spoke first. So Iruka thought he would do it instead.

 

"So Kakashi sensei. I heard this rather humorous rumor about you." Iruka started, Kakashi said not a word but he saw one thinly silver eyebrow arch just a bit.

 

"Rumor has it that you wanted to test the new skills of your old students and had them try your infamous bell test again?." Iruka added, he felt Kakashi tense, but still the man said not a word.

 

"You were so confident they couldn't get the bells weren't you Kakashi sensei? No matter who they were training with these past few years you were so damn sure that your old students couldn't beat you weren't you? So how does it feel to know they did beat you? That they finally surpassed you and got the bells?" Iruka asked in a teasing tone a grin on his face, said grin being held back from busting out into a full blown smile that threatened to break out into hilarious laughter. He knew Kakashi prided himself on the fact that none of his students had ever, even the only team he'd ever passed, could get those bells off of his person. It was his thing, it was the copy nin's way of having something that was his and his alone, no matter how much they had grown or trained, he would always have the bells. Sadly it was a boast he could not longer pride himself in.

 

"They. Did. Not. Surpass. Me. They cheated, ninja don't cheat, so it doesn't count." finally came the response from said silver haired jounin as he shut his manuscript and set it down on the table. He crossed his arms over his broad chest and seemed bored with the conversation, but Iruka could tell he wasn't.

 

"Ninja don't cheat? What world do you live in? As ninja our greatest tool is to use what ever means neccesary to achieve our goal, and using someones weakness is a key point to all our training, so using your weakness against you was EXACTLY the way to go and apperantly it worked....the thing that gets me is that it was your perverted facination with Icha Icha that was your downfall." At this Iruka could no long hold it in, he started to laugh out loud. He could feel the intent to do harm on his person coming off of Kakashi but he could care less, it was just to damn funny. To be beaten because he couldn't bare to hear Naruto read from a portion of his icha icha he had not read yet. Kakashi could be such a stickler for people ruining the ending for him. It was just too funny to think about.

 

"You find this amussing Iruka sensei?" Kakashi asked in a bored but almost threatening sort of tone. Iruka just laughed a bit harder.

 

"Actually I do, its priceless Hatake, I mean how could you allow them to beat you by such an asanine thing as that?" Iruka asked threw chuckles, but when no response came he looked up at Kakashi and saw the look in his eyes and Iruka stopped laughing. He scrunched his eyes up in a thoughtful way.

 

"You LET them beat you didn't you?" Iruka said in what was more of a statement than a real question. This suprised Iruka. As well as confussed him.

 

"But why? Why let them beat you if they didn't have the true skills to do so on thier own? And why let them beat you in such a stupid way?" Iruka added with genuine curiosity. For Iruka it was just not feasable for the infamous Copy Nin to LET someone beat him in battle, much less in such a humilating way, he had to have known it would get around the village and his image would drop a few notches as the fierce warrior he was, if this sort of news got around. So why did he do it?

 

"Again who said they beat me?" Kakashi asked but it seemed like he really didn't expect any real answer, he still looked bored and aloof. Iruka frowned. He was not fooled.

 

"Out with it Hatake, I may not know you as well as your students, but I know about your record and Ive handed and taken enough of your mission reports to know that it would of taken alot more than just reading your precious Icha Icha to you for those two to beat you, why hide it? Why let them win? Letting them win gives them false hope of thier abilities and that could hurt them out in the battlefield." Iruka replied, things in his head finally clicking a bit. He had been so amused by the rumors of the great Hatake being beaten by his two old students and in such a way, he had not bothered to think that it truelly was as foolish as it sounded. There was no way the Copy Nin could of been beaten by such stupid means, he was a too well trained warrior for such an easy deafeat.

 

"Why make your self look silly? And why give them false hope, by LETTING them win, you just make Naruto and Sakura think they are stronger than they really are and by letting them think that, will only get them hurt in battle." Iruka added, a bit peeved, the more he thought about it, the more it angered him. By letting them win Kakashi could of done them more harm than good. Kakashi looked at Iruka and saw the concern and the anger and sighed out loud and leaned over the table to look Iruka right in the face.

 

"You know Iruka, for someone who actually taught Naruto and Sakura for far longer than I did, you have very little faith in thier abilities?? why is that? Why do you doubt thier skills so much?" Kakashi asked with what looked like true curiosity.

 

"I DO NOT doubt thier skills or abilities!" Iruka protested with a growl and his voice slightly raised, he noticed some of the other patrons looking thier way at his outburst and he quieted down but gave Kakashi a heated glare.

 

"I don't doubt them Hatake, I care about them and their well being, why does that seem so hard to believe? Your always questioning my reasons when it should be obvious that I am only concerned for them...I don't want to see Naruto or any of my other students hurt." Iruka said through grated teeth, Kakashi sighed yet again.

 

"And you don't think I care for their well being? that I am NOT concerned for them as well? You taught them Iruka, behind academy walls and doors, with the whole village around them to keep them safe as they trained, but it was me who had to take them out of the safety of the village and lead them on missions...do you have any idea how it might of affected me when our first C class mission turned into an A and knowing full well that the team had not been prepared for someone like Zabuza Momochi or Haku? Did you ever think that when I got chakra depletion and realized that Zabuza might not be dead, that I didn't want to do everything that I could to get them the hell out of there and squash the whole mission? But I couldn't do that...THEY didn't want to do that, my team wanted to complete the mission and protect all those innocent lives, so they did and you know what Iruka? They completed that mission with courage, strength and skills not even I was sure they would have for at least a few more years of training. They surpassed my expectations and I learned that my team was not any ordinary team, they had heart, they had courage and they had the ability to learn and survive during battle...and you know what else? They believed in their own nindo, thier own ninja way. They weren't detached and cold, emotionless like most ninja before them had been taught. You know that in our world that having emotions and letting them rule your actions can cost lives and cause missions to fail, its what we've always been taught..but there was something diffrent about my team, they LET thier emotions guide thier actions, thier heart was in everything they did and that had worried me at first, it scared me to think that they would end up getting themselves killed...and I blamed you for that Iruka sensei...I blamed you for teaching them to kill, to be shinobi, but for also teaching them that they could still be human and that they did not have to give up thier emotions to get the job done...I thought that was foolish and irresponsible, then I also came to another conclusion later on, after we got back from our mission in Wave and the Chuunin exams started. My team wasn't the only one who had that fault, the entire rookie nine had the very same fault, they all FELT...they let emotions guide them...and you know what I realized when I saw them in battle??? I realized that they were stronger BECAUSE of thier emotions, it didn't make them weak, it didn't make them a liability, it made them stronger, determined and victorious all in thier own ways..and they have you to thank for that Iruka...you taught them well and gave them the true skills they needed to make it further than alot of other genin teams normally would, yet you still doubt them, when it was you who taught them what they needed in order to grow stronger and to survive, why? why do you doubt them? Or is it your own teaching abilities that you doubt?" Kakashi asked with curiosity and watched to see what sort of reaction Iruka would have to what he had said.

 

"I do NOT doubt them...I don't even doubt my abilities to train them Kakashi sensei." Iruka responded with a bit of heat but not anger, Kakashi watched many emotions flash through the tanned chuunins eyes and wondered about them.

 

"Then what is it you fear?" Kakashi asked, his tone more understanding. It was fear that was more prominant in Iruka's eyes, and that puzzled Kakashi but also piqued his curiosity.

 

"You want to know a secret Kakashi sensei?" Iruka asked as he looked up and actually smiled at the jounin.

 

"Only if you want to tell me Iruka." Kakashi responded honestly. He knew all about secrets and how precious they were, and how they could be used against you at times as well.

 

"I actually tried out for my jounin exams...and although very few people remember I was actually the only one of any leaf shinobi that won all my matches that year." Iruka stated wistfully, almost sadly, yet a smile still graced his lips.

 

"Then why aren't you a jounin?" Kakashi asked, a bit puzzled, surely if Iruka had been good enough to win all his matches then they would have made him a jounin.

 

"Because they told me the only way I could become a jounin was to let go of all my emotions, all my feelings....to turn my heart into ice and steel...you see I won all my matches, but I won because I let my anger, my fear, my need to survive rule me and guide how I fought, it was instinct, fear, anger, the need to fight to win or die in the process....its what drove me to win, and the elders and Sandaime saw this in me, they said it would make me weak, it would cause problems with my missions if I didn't learn to harness my emotions and lock them up and out of the way...so in order to become a jounin I had to give all that up and become just a tool, a weapon that was used and tossed away without a second thought, to not CARE about the people or things around me, only on the mission and the protection of the village...I thought it was ridiculous really, I mean how can someone fight and protect something that they don't care about? How can you protect the lives of others if you don't have the emotions to care if they live or die? I thought it was stupid and said so to the council." Iruka stated with a proud smirk that actually impressed Kakashi alot. Obediant little Iruka sensei, the acedemy's beloved school teacher had been bold enough to tell the council that something they believed in was stupid? Impressive, Kakashi thought.

 

"I take it the council didn't take to well to being told they were stupid?" Kakashi nudged.

 

"No they didn't, but Sandaime believed in me and when I didn't make jounin the council tried to take away my chuunin status away as well...but Sandaime wouldn't let them, he fought for me, he believed in what I believed in, he knew that you couldn't totally be emotionless if you expected to fight for those you cared about, fight to live another day and complete your missions. So I stayed a chuunin and was given the job as an academy teacher. Its the best and worst job Iv'e ever had in my life."

 

"Why the worst job? I thought you loved being a teacher?" Kakashi asked with genuine surprise.

 

"I do, I love being with the kids, teaching them....but think about it Kakashi?....what exactly is it i am teaching them?"

 

"Your teaching them to be shinobi."

 

 

"Exactly, Im teaching them the skills to kill, teaching them things that will put them in situations that will GET them killed....you jounins get them AFTER they have been taught the basics, taught how to hold a kunia or shurikan and throw it straight, how to use thier chakra and all the other things a genin needs to know to move on out of the academy...but I see them when they first enroll..when they are still innocent and baby faced...when throwing plastic shuriken and playing ninja is a game to them, because in thier game, no one actually dies, at the end they just get up, dust off and go home, they don't know the true horrors and life threatening things they will encounter later on in thier lives...so ya I am really tough on my students, but I make sure each and everyone knows that they are not just tools, just mindless zombies who can't afford to laugh every chance they can, who can't enjoy life and to live everyday as if it was your last, to cherish each day, because we aren't garanteed a tomorrow and today is all we have...they need to learn that its OKAY to smile and be happy that they are still alive....that they MATTER to someone...they matter to me...they are my children Kakashi sensei, and like every parent, I get scared and worry about them all the time...I can't help it...and I worry more because I KNOW what they are trained to do and will do as shinobi...I see them come in from missions, some never coming back at all...I visit them in the hospital and console those who lost a teammate or a relative...so ya I worry...I don't DOUBT them or thier skills Kakashi sensei, because if I did they would never have left my class room and gotten the headband that branded them ninja of the hidden leaf village....I don't doubt MY abilities to teach them because I think I am alot harder on my students than other teachers are...the only diffrence is that I care for them alot more than a teacher should I think...Its hard to watch kids that you practically watch grow up and see them go off to battle or a mission where they might never come back from...as a ninja I know what can and will happen out there in the walls outside of Konoha, I know the dangers, the risks.....so do I doubt them??? No.....Do I fear for their lives..Everyday....do I coddle them?...hardly....will I speak out if I think they may be going into something that might get them killed?...Of course..its what anyone who loves something precious does...its not rational and not healthy at times...but to stop feeling it, would make me hollow and cold inside...and that is something I don't want to become, something I don't want my students to see or be like...I want them to treasure everyday they have...and I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that happens...even if I look foolish and mother hennish in front of very respected and higher ranked shinobi than me....because to me, those are my kids, my family and all I want is to see them live a bit longer than the statics say they will. So no..I don't doubt them...I fear for them....every damn day of my life..and I really don't have anyone to blame but myself for that, because its me who teaches them what they need to know to BECAME shinobi...so when one of them doesnt come back...a part of me doesnt come back with them...and sometimes I wonder if I have any heart left to give..." Iruka stated solemly, saddly and stood up and walked away.

 

Kakashi watched Iruka leave and felt his heart squeeze painfully in his chest. He still felt the pain over Sasuke's betrayal, the memories of almost loosing Naruto to his own team mate, the memories of Obito and Rin and Sensei....he blamed himself for not being strong enough, for not being the person they had needed then...but as he thought of how he agonized over just those few of his precious people, he wondered how Iruka could do it, how could that man or any man, live with all that quilt and heartache? For Kakashi this opened his eyes a bit more into Iruka's heart and damn if he didn't ache for him and want to know him even that much more.

 

After Iruka walked off he headed for his apartment. Funny how things worked out, he had been feeling pretty damn good a bit earlier when he went to tease Kakashi, but damn it if things hadn't turned out all screwed up. He wasn't sure why he had told Kakashi one of his biggest secrets, some of his inner most thoughts that he NEVER shared with anyone, but he had, and now he was down and feeling pretty glum. As he walked and thought over the last hour and how things had changed from one thing to another, he laughed outloud. A few people stared at him oddly for a moment and he could only shake his head. Damn Kakashi, he still never answered his question. In the process of trying to get the truth out of why Kakashi had let Naruto and Sakura beat him, Kakashi had effectivly evaded the question and managed to somehow turn the table till It was Iruka who was spilling his guts. Kakashi was a bastard...but Iruka smiled...ya Kakashi was a bastard, but he wasn't as bad of a bastard he had thought him to be all this time. Kakashi had his faults, but then again didn't everyone? Iruka was surprised yet not really bothered by the fact that he was getting to know Kakashi alot more in just a few weeks than he had ever bothered to learn of him in over two years. Strange that. But not a bad think Iruka decided.

 

 

 

A/N~~~YESSSSSS its a sucky chapter, I know this, but I wanted a bit more insight into my charactors and this is what freaking came out...sorry no lemons in this or the last one, and sorry for the huge gap between updates but I am trying to get this to where I need it to be with my muse having gone AWOL, not an easy feat I tells ya. Anyway hope it wasn't tooo bad...be nice and if you hated it, please don't tell me, lol, huggles and smiles Mija...:-) BTW I PROMISE A LEMON IN THE NEXT CHAPTER K??