Standard disclaimers about not owning Naruto apply.

I had such trouble writing the dialogue, especially in the beginning, that I thought about rewriting the story without any of the kids. Any suggestions to improve it are appreciated.

Kakashi tied the last knot and stood back with a sigh, placing his hands in his pockets. Before him the three members of his team struggled, sulked, or sighed resignedly on their respective posts.

"Maa, I win again. Your teamwork is improving, but if this is the best you've got to offer, you'll never make it through the Chunin exams."

"But-"

Kakashi held up a silencing hand, cutting Naruto off before he got started. "The Chunin exams aren't just another sparring match. People have died. You need to take them seriously and be prepared to treat your opponents as mortal enemies. Are you prepared to fight on that level?"

The Jounin crossed his arms over his chest and let the twelve year olds think about that before continuing. "You know I outclass all of you put together in strength, knowledge and experience, but you still hesitate to come at me with the full force of your attacks and refuse to exploit my weaknesses."

"But, Kakashi-sensei, you don't have any weaknesses!" Naruto practically whined.

"Everyone has weaknesses, Naruto. I happen to have several. You've been working with me long enough that you should have discovered some of them by now. One of my weaknesses you should have noticed the first moment you met me."

Naruto fell silent, face scrunched in thought. Sakura, on her post to Naruto's left, refused to meet his gaze, looking uncomfortable and mildly embarrassed, while Sasuke somehow managed to take on a more distant and closed off air even while tied to the post. It was as thought the boys very aura had crossed it's arms and hunched it's shoulders. The answer, when it finally came, came not from Naruto, but from the boy tied to his right.

"You have a blind spot."

"Right, Sasuke. I have a blind spot!" Kakashi said with a sudden smile, as though he was telling them it was his birthday instead of pointing out that he had lost an eye. "It's a readily identified and easily exploited weakness, but I can count on one hand the number of times I've been attacked from that side during our training exercises." He didn't add that each one of those attacks had come from Sasuke.

Naruto sounded shocked and a little indignant at the thought that he would even consider such a thing. "But, Kakashi-sensei, we couldn't do that. That wouldn't be fair! We would never take advantage of you like that! How could you even think we would-"

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed, turning a cold stare in the boy's direction. "During these exercises I am your enemy," he stated flatly. "An enemy who could easily crush all three of you. You need every advantage you can get." He paused a moment before continuing in a lighter tone. "Besides, do you think my enemies give me the same consideration? I have yet to meet a missing-nin with your concern for my feelings. "

Naruto considered this for a moment. "I hadn't thought of it that way before, Kakashi-sensei," He said in his quietly.

From the corner of his vision, Kakashi saw Sakura's head jerk up and a smile spread across her face as she realized something. "So, sensei, you're saying that if we attack you from your blind side, we're actually training you while you're training us!"

"That's right," began Kakashi agreeably as he walked toward Naruto's post to undo the knots, "When you-"

Kakashi was cut off by a swirl of leaves to his left and the sudden appearance of a tall slender woman with dark wavy hair and crimson eyes.

"You're late, Kakashi"

"Ah, yes, well, you see-"

Kurenai sighed and waved a hand dismissively. "Not like I was expecting anything else. I thought you'd be here so I took a chance and came over. We can just spar here."

Kakashi nodded and started walking toward the center of the field.

"Hey! Kakashi-sensei, what about us? You can't just leave us here!"

Kakashi turned and looked at Naruto struggling on his post, eyebrow raised in surprise, before smiling and scratching the back of his head self consciously. "Oh, right. Sorry about that. Class dismissed!"

Naruto stilled, staring at the retreating back of his jounin sensei in disbelief before erupting, hands and feet straining against the ropes.

"Hey! You forgot to untie us! Kakashi-sensei! Ah, I can't believe this! How are we gonna get out of this? We've been training all day and I'm really hungry and Iruka-sensei usually goes to Ichiraku's on Tuesdays and if I meet him there he usually buys me dinner and now I'm going to miss it because-"

Naruto's rant was quickly degenerating from anger to self-pity.

"Dobe, he isn't coming back until he's done. Just keep quiet and wait, or try to figure a way out of these ties. Where's your dignity?"

"How can I have dignity when I'm tied to a pole and my stomach is growling and I'm about to pass out from hunger?" Naruto cried incredulously.

"Sasuke's right, Naruto. Shouting isn't going to help matters any. Save your energy." And my ears, Sakura added silently.

"Aw, Sakura-chan, you always take Sasuke's side."

. . .

. . .

As they walked out onto the field the two jounin set the rules for their spar. This was to be an all out, no limits match. Only one thing remained to be decided.

"Sharingan, or no Sharingan?"

"No Sharingan"

Kakashi nodded his agreement and they separated in the middle of the field and settled into fighting stances. Kurenai wasn't a regular sparring partner of his, but he had fought her enough times that he thought he had a pretty good idea of what to expect from the genjutsu specialist. Still, something felt off about this spar. Maybe it was that Kurenai herself felt off to him. Usually calm and polite, Kurenai had been standoffish toward Kakashi since the Chunin nominations two days ago, not outright avoiding him, but not seeking him out in her usually friendly way either. He knew she had a soft spot for the Academy teacher, Umino Iruka. Hell, half the town had a soft spot for the man: Kurenai and by extension Asuma, all the other jounin senses, the academy instructors, the mission room staff, any parent of any kid who'd ever been in his class, the Hokage. Of course Kakashi had known how many people he would piss off by upsetting dear Iruka-sensei, but the man was being overprotective of ninjas. Ninjas who were being trained to kill while avoiding being killed themselves. Ninjas who would be facing life or death situations on their own and wouldn't have Iruka-sensei by their side to protect them, to shield them from the harsh realities of the world, to sugar coat the hard to swallow truths of shinobi life.

And he had been right. Iruka-sensei had even told him so the following evening, after he had tested the kids himself. Sure, he'd been a prick about it, but he had been right. No one had worried about whether Kakashi was ready when he took the chunin exams at age six. No one thought that seven was too young for his first assassination mission. No one wondered if eleven was too young to send a boy off to war. And no one tried to stop Kakashi from signing up for ANBU at thirteen. No one except Yondaime, but he was dead nine months later and at fourteen Kakashi was a member of ANBU with a promising career ahead of him. And he turned out just fine.

Kakashi's thoughts were interrupted by the handful of shuriken flying at his head. He ducked and replied with his own thrown weapons, and the match was on.

Iruka was taking a shortcut past training ground three when he felt it; wildly fluctuating chakra, disappearing completely and then surging forth in a powerful rush. He stretched out his senses and felt a second source of chakra, this one burning strongly and steadily as though maintaining a complex jutsu. He was too far away to recognize either of the chakra signatures, but it was probably just a couple of shinobi training, nothing to be concerned about. Still, he knew from Naruto that this was the training ground Kakashi-sensei preferred for working with team seven, and that they had had a training exercise scheduled for today. Surely Kakashi wouldn't be using a jutsu requiring that much chakra on a team of Genin! Maybe he'd just wander a little closer and check things out. Not that he didn't trust the man. No, of course not. He had already made a fool of himself once in front of half of the elite shinobi in the village as well as the Hokage, only to be proven wrong, when it came to Hatake Kakashi. He wasn't about to do it again. He wasn't worried, just curious. Yeah, curious. That's all.

Iruka turned in the direction of the chakra, speeding up as he felt another wild burst of that powerful chakra, followed by the disappearance of the other chakra signature altogether. That didn't mean anything. Iruka knew he was probably quite a distance from the battle and that he wouldn't have noticed the second chakra at all had it not been for the first powerful surge getting his attention. He knew there was no way any genin could maintain the kind of controlled, powerful flow of chakra that second signature had been demonstrating. If this was indeed Kakashi practicing with his team and any of the kids were responsible for either of the chakras he was sensing, then he had put his foot far deeper into his mouth than he could ever have imagined when he questioned their readiness for the chunin exams.

Iruka slowed as he felt himself nearing the two chakra signatures and then stopped at the edge of the training ground's open field, keeping back in the trees a bit. Only a fool would rush headfirst into a training ground he knew to be in use. His brown eyes scanned the field and surrounding area, taking in the sight of Kakashi and Kurenai standing about 100 feet apart in the center, each breathing hard and eyeing each other warily. Iruka relaxed as everything became clear. Of course it was two Jounin sparring. No Genin, not even Naruto, could produce the chakra he had been feeling. He blushed a little, chastising himself for even thinking otherwise. Everything fell further into place as he considered the two shinobi in the field. Genjutsu required a constant and sometimes intense flow of chakra to maintain the illusion, and one of the ways to escape a genjutsu was to interrupt the energy surrounding you with a hard chakra push of your own. Kuranai was well known as the most skilled genjutsu specialist in the village, and from what he knew of Kakashi, the man was no small shakes when it came to genjutsu himself.

Iruka saw the slight change in Kakashi's frame as Kurenai brought her hands together a second before the man launched himself at his opponent in a dizzying series of taijutsu combinations that would have had even Gai-sensei scrambling. Kurenai blocked and staggered back before disappearing in a cloud of smoke, leaving Kakashi swinging at a log. Substitution jutsu. That meant that Kurenai was probably somewhere in the trees surrounding the field, which meant that Iruka should probably get out of the trees post-haste, or risk being caught in the crossfire of a match between two of the villages top ranking shinobi.

At the end of the field he noticed the three stumps, each with a small figure bound to it. The rest of team seven. Iruka fell back into the trees and made his way around to the far end, where he slowly approached the three bound genin. Sasuke, the first to notice him, acknowledged his former sensei with a grunt and went back to his serious business of staring blankly ahead. Sakura looked happy to see her old sensei and greeted him with a warm smile and a polite "Hello, Iruka-sensei" as though talking to old friends while tied to a giant pillar of wood were nothing unusual in her life. Iruka wondered if it wasn't. Naruto, of course, started thrashing against his restraints and ranting about how their sensei had forgotten them and left them there to starve while he was out training and how it wasn't fair and he could be eating ramen by know and would have carried on indefinitely if Iruka hadn't stopped him.

"Are you three being punished?"

"No, Iruka-sensei, Naruto's actually telling the truth," Sakura explained with outward calmness. "Kakashi-sensei said 'class-dismissed' and then went off to spar, but he forgot to untie us." Iruka could hear the tension in her voice at the last bit and knew she was seething inside but doing her best not to show it.

Iruka suppressed a frustrated sigh at their teachers negligence, and glanced back out onto the field. Kakashi must have followed Kurenai into the trees after her substitution jutsu and now the two jounin were locked in a taijutsu match near eastern edge of the field, far from the spot Iruka had been lurking when he first came upon the match. He wondered briefly if Kurenai had known he was there and choose that spot on purpose. The he wondered if the other man would even notice if he freed his team. He didn't want to get further on the man's bad side by setting the kids loose if Kakashi had a reason for wanting them there, but he also didn't feel right leaving the kids tied for no reason other than 'Kakashi-sensei forgot'. He decided that "class dismissed" probably meant the same to Kakashi-sensei as it did to him, that the days lessons were done and the kids were free to go. Sakura's post was nearest to him and he approached her first, reaching to untie the knot at her left hand. He stopped before he even touched the rope and smiled. Again he had misjudged Kakashi.

"Did any of you try to escape on your own?"

"Ne, Iruka-sensei, how are we going to escape when we're tied up like this? Stupid Kakashi-sensei infused the rope with chakra so we can't break it."

"So you tried?"

"Of course I tried! You saw me try to get out!"

"Naruto, you tried to break the rope. Did you try to untie it?" Iruka asked patiently.

Sakura was a step ahead of Naruto, feeling what she could of the knots at her own wrist and straining her neck to look at them. "Ah, I see! He didn't knot the rope well at all! If you just pull a certain way on one of the knots, it unravels!" Iruka watched a blush climb her cheeks as she realized how close to escape they had been the whole time. "Kakashi-sensei usually uses much better knots." she explained sheepishly.

"I'm sure he does. Maybe he was trying to teach you not to give up until you've explored all the options, or that it's easy to overlook the little details."

A shouted "Kai!" brought Iruka's attention back to the combatants in the field. He saw Kurenai throw a roundhouse kick which Kakashi caught, but barely. He then used the captured foot to throw her off balance, sending her crashing to the ground. Kurenai controlled the fall somewhat and then made a quick hand sign while still on the ground. The three genin gathered around Iruka as Kakashi seemed to stand frozen before her. Kurenai held the hand sign, and neither opponent moved.

"This has been the boringest sparring match ever!" exclaimed Naruto. "They fight for a few minutes, then they stop and just stare each other."

"It looks that way because this is a genjutsu match." Iruka began explaining. "Right now Kurenai-sensei has Kakashi-sensei trapped in a genjutsu. He can't move much until he breaks it, and the longer he's trapped in it, the harder it is to break. "

Sasuke had been watching the match with the same apparent disinterest he'd shown while tied to his post. "He could break it with the Sharingon."

Iruka looked sideways at the Uchiha boy. He strongly suspected that Sasuke knew they could escape their bindings the whole time, but then he wouldn't have had an excuse to stay and watch the sparring match. From what he had gleaned from Naruto's stories of team seven, Sasuke had come to have a grudging respect for their sensei. He would never admit it, and still called Kakashi by his first name without any honorific, but after the mission to Wave he seemed to realize that there was a lot he could learn from his jounin sensei.

"Yes, he could use the Sharingon, but maybe he doesn't want to become too dependant on it. If a shinobi has a certain strength or special ability, that strength could become a weakness if they depend on it too much."

A barely perceptible shrug of the shoulders and a soft "Hnn" were all Iruka got for a response.

"So why doesn't Kurenai-sensei get up and kick Kakashi-sensei's ass? He's just standing there!"

"Because, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei isn't 'just standing there'. You can feel his chakra fighting to break free. If she loses her concentration she could lose the spell."

And they could feel Kakashi's madly flickering chakra trying to break free. Iruka wasn't used to being around such large bursts of chakra. Even though there was no killing intent, the sudden bursts of Kakashi's chakra combined with the powerful flow of Kurenai's changed the very air around them, making it feel heavier, almost oppressive. It reminded Iruka of the sudden change in barometric pressure right before a severe thunderstorm. If they lived in another part of the country, he might have been scanning the horizon for signs of tornadoes.

Iruka wasn't adept at genjutsu himself, but he had always been fascinated by it. He liked the idea of being able to restrain an enemy without inflicting injury, and was intrigued by all the possibilities genjutsu presented. To be able to alter someone's reality and control what they were seeing, what they were hearing, even what they were feeling. He had heard that some genjutsu were so powerful they could kill a man by making him think he had sustained a mortal wound, others so panic inducing that the victim injured themselves in their frenzy to escape. Iruka couldn't imagine having that kind of power, and he shuddered to think of what could happen when the one wielding that power was an enemy instead of a comrade.

. . .

. . .

Kakashi cursed mentally as she caught him in yet another genjutsu. He brought his hands up and shouted "Kai!", breaking the hallucination of swirling vortices and warped surfaces that left him off balance and a little nauseated. He was still reorienting himself with reality when Kurenai threw a hasty kick toward his head, hoping to catch him off guard. Kakashi clumsily grabbed her foot and then pushed, throwing her to the ground. He made to rush her, intending to pin her and bring the match to an end, but instead of trying to get up, she quickly threw up another genjutsu. Snakes. Snakes wrapped around his ankles and wrists, twining around his legs, encircling his chest, constricting. He could feel the pressure on his ribcage, the increased effort to expand his chest, the way the snakes took advantage of each exhalation to squeeze just a little bit tighter. Kakashi fought to stay calm against the suffocating pressure wrapped tightly around his chest. Calm and reasonable. And maybe just a little bit angry. That was how he was going to get out of this. Kakashi closed his eyes and drew all his chakra inward, pulling it into himself and gathering it in his center. He held it for a count of three then opened his eyes and pushed, hard, releasing his chakra outward in a mighty surge. The snakes wavered and loosened their grip, the ones around his ankles faded away altogether. The snakes around his wrists remained, but had weakened enough to allow his hands some small range of motion. It was enough to reach into one of his many pockets and pull out the tiny senbon tucked away in a holder, shorter than standard issue and easier to conceal in his clothes. He gripped the tiny needle and tried to bring his hands together, but the snakes weren't going to relinquish their grip any further. His plan had been to stab the needle into the webbing between his finger and thumb, but he couldn't reach. Stabbing himself in the thigh could slow him down. That left just one other place.

Kakashi took a deep breath and stuck himself in the butt. He aimed low and to the side, stabbing parallel to the plane of his cheek, driving the senbon under the skin and through the scant layer of fat, but not far into the considerable amount of hard muscle comprising his gluteus maximus.

The pain disrupted the genjutsu and brought his mind into sharp focus. As soon as the snakes poofed out of existence Kakashi made some rapid hand signs and disappeared underground. Was he hiding? Hell yes. But genjutsu couldn't reach him down here, and he needed a minute to think. And to pull the needle out of his ass.

He had been on the defensive from the start of this match and he was getting a little tired of it. So far the only attacks he'd been able to launch had been aimed at keeping Kurenai too busy to cast another one of her infernal genjutsu. Kurenai had a reputation as one of the most reasonable Jounin in the village, as well as one of the kindest. In past spars she had thrown genjutsu after powerful genjutsu at him, but for the most part they had been disorienting or inhibitive, difficult to escape but not terrifying, and certainly not painful. This, however, was a different Kurenai than the sane and gentle kunoichi he was used to dealing with. So far she had nearly drowned him; trampled him with a herd of deer; covered him first in tiny biting ants; then clinging, thorn covered vines that tried to draw him into carnivorous looking pods; buried him in mud; chased him with killer bees (the kids must have loved that one); trapped him in mental whirlpools; and tried to squeeze the life out of him with constrictors.

Okay, so she was still mad at him. As if things weren't bad enough already, Iruka-sensei decided to come poking his nose around the training grounds in the middle of their match. Kurenai had motioned her head toward the clump of trees in which the chunin was hiding and given Kakashi a warning look. Kakashi rolled his eyes at her. Did she think he couldn't sense him there? Or maybe she thought he was going to start flinging kunai in Iruka-sensei's direction. He watched Kurenai's eyes narrow at his response as she started to make hand signs. The memory of thousands of ants nibbling on some of his more sensitive parts had him rushing to stop her.

And that was the problem with this match. Anger didn't make Kurenai stupid, as it did so many people, it made her aggressive. And a little mean, if you asked him. This whole match had been a series of her actions and his reactions. Even now, Kurenai was probably hiding in a tree, resting, while he was still expending chakra to stay underground.

Kakashi reached out his senses to get his bearings. He couldn't see or hear anything, but he could sense other people's chakra through the ground. He felt 4 chakra signatures clumped together. Umino and the brats. They would still be at the end of the field with the pillars to which he had tied his team in order to teach them a lesson that Iruka-sensei had probably ruined. Kurenai's signature was absent, so he had probably guessed correctly that she was in the trees.

Kakashi made a shadow clone and was about to send it to the surface to draw fire when he felt a fifth chakra signature on the ground. Probably a shadow clone of her own trying to draw him out. Making a mental map and extrapolating her position based on the other signatures, Kakashi though she might be at the edge of the clearing, probably still in the tree line. He sent his clone off to battle it out with hers while he made his way off to the side until the earth became thick with roots and he could be sure to come out of the ground in the cover of the trees. He waited until he felt his clone dissipate to climb out of the ground and jump into the trees, hoping Kurenai would still be distracted enough not to notice. His clone's memories told him it had been attacked with a thrown Kunai from the opposite side of the field, and that Kurenai's clone was still out there.

Kakashi considered making another clone, but didn't want to draw her attention if she didn't already know where he was. Instead he made his way silently through the trees toward the clone. A clone couldn't cast genjutsu, and his taijutsu skills should be able to take her down fairly easily. He had to be careful, though. In her current mood, she might have made the clone with the intent to 'kill Kakashi' instead of 'engage Kakashi in a friendly spar between two comrades from the same village who respect each other and often enjoy spending time together with their mutual friends'.

He heard the shuriken whistling through the air and ducked behind a tree an instant before they would have hit him. He pulled three shuriken from his own pouch and threw them to cover his attack. The Kurenai clone dodged the shuriken and came at him with a series of punches. He was just about to stab her out of existence when he sensed another presence behind him. Grabbing the clone, he spun and used her as a shield against the shuriken flying at him from above. The clone poofed and was gone.

Kakashi prepared to take to the trees again when he was kicked hard from behind. Two clones, then. He staggered forward and almost fell, but caught himself in time and jumped up into the branches. Two Kurenai's attacked him at once, driving him back but not landing any hits. At the edge of the clearing he raced into the field and turned to see if they were following. Dodging shuriken, he ran to the center of the field and made a series of hand signs before disappearing underground again. He felt the two identical chakra signatures pause and used that moment to attack, exploding from the earth and punching one of his attackers in the jaw, not knowing if he choose the real Kurenai or the clone until the body poofed. Kakashi spun to face the attack he knew would be coming, blocking Kurenai's kick and dodging her fist. He threw a few punches of his own to get her on the offensive and then started making hand signs when a wave of shuriken flew at him from his left. He grunted in pain as they embedded in his left arm and leg, and then gasped as he was hit with a barrage of senbon from his right. He had seen the shuriken coming at him from his blind side, and he didn't think Kurenai could make four clones and still attack him like she had. He took a chance.

"Kai!"

The metal pieces buried in his body disappeared, along with the blood they had drawn. Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief even as he braced for another attack. But the attack never came. Kurenai had disappeared, most likely taking cover in the woods. Kakashi drew a kunai and turned in a slow circle, trying to sense his opponent and cursing her for getting the upper hand yet again. He noticed that he was a lot closer to the kids than he thought he was, and wondered idly why Iruka-sensei didn't use his protective instincts to do something useful, like move the kids away from the people throwing sharp, pointy pieces of steel at each other. He was about to jutsu into the trees for cover when he heard someone calling his name.

"Kakashi-sensei! Kakashi-sensei, please wait!"

It couldn't be. The man couldn't be that much of a fool that he'd run onto a battlefield where Kurenai was obviously trying to either kill him or drive him permanently insane. Not that the second would be much of an accomplishment. Still, what was he thinking?

"Iruka-sensei, you shouldn't be out here." here called to the quickly approaching teacher. "Please go back, and maybe you should take the kids a bit further down the field." Kakashi didn't stop searching the trees until Umino was standing in front of him.

"Iruka-sensei, please. It's dangerous out here. I don't want you or the kids getting hurt."

Iruka rolled his eyes and made a 'tch' sound as he scanned the surrounding trees. "Kurenai's a smart woman. She isn't going to attack you while I'm on the field."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him. The face he made when he said Kurenai's name was similar to the face he had made at Kakashi when he said it might be fun to see if the kids broke during the Chunin Exams . And his voice definitely held the same disapproving undertone. "Did you think I needed your protection?" he asked icily.

"Oh! Aah, no. No, of course not, Kakashi-san." The chunin looked away, blushing. "But I did think you might need some medical attention. You're bleeding pretty badly and should probably have that looked at."

Iruka motioned vaguely toward Kakashi's left arm, and a bewildered look down showed that he was indeed bleeding. Quite heavily, in fact. Perhaps there were some real shuriken mixed in with the genjutsu attack, or maybe Kurenai had cut him while they fought in the woods. He didn't remember getting cut, but here he was, bleeding. A lot. After another glance through the surrounding trees, Kakashi holstered his kunai and pulled up his sleeve, showing a slice across the inside of his forearm, not long or deep, but crossing one of the many veins that ran just under the surface of the skin. Kakashi muttered a curse as the other man gently took Kakashi's hand and pulled it toward him, using his other hand to wipe away some of the blood with a gauze pad he had pulled out of his bag.

"I don't think it's a major vessel, Kakashi-sensei." he said after examining the wound. "But we should but a pressure bandage on it for now and get you to the hospital for some sutures."

Kakashi jerked his arm out of the chunin's grasp. "I'll be fine, Iruka-sensei, thank you for you concern."

Iruka grabbed the arm back firmly but gently and applied pressure to the wound. "Of course you'll be fine, Kakashi-sensei, once we get this bandaged and then sutured. I've taken a lot of field medicine courses. We need to apply a tourniquet and then clean and bandage this wound."

Iruka spoke to him in a patient, slightly indulgent yet firm voice, his words comforting but leaving no room for discussion. No one had spoken to Kakashi that way since….well of course no one spoke to him that way anymore. It was the way you spoke to a child, and Kakashi wasn't a child. Hadn't been a child for quite some time now.

"Kakashi-sensei, please sit down. It'll be easier to do this if you're sitting, and I think you should get off your feet." The words were accompanied by a gentle pressure on his shoulder, and Kakashi was surprised to feel himself responding. Obeying, even. He sank slowly to the ground, crossing his legs underneath him tailor-style and resting his injured arm on his knee. Maybe he'd lost more blood than he thought. He found he was soothed by the Chunin's voice and comforted by his concern.

"This has to be tight, I'm sorry." Iruka said softly as he tied a bandage tightly around Kakashi's upper arm, just under the biceps. The chunin kept up a running dialogue as he pulled more bandages, more gauze pads, some antiseptic and a small pair of scissors from his bag. "I had to take field medicine classes in order to teach. Kids are always getting into trouble, especially at weapons practice." he was saying as he wiped the blood from Kakashi's arm before starting to carefully clean the laceration. "This might sting a little, but I have to do it." The chunin sounded genuinely regretful. "The bleeding's slowed down a lot since we applied the tourniquet." He took a large wad of gauze and pressed it onto the wound. "Could you hold this in place while I start wrapping your arm? Thanks."

Kakashi placed his other hand on the pile of gauze, pressing down as he watched Iruka begin to wrap his arm. Kakashi adjusted his fingers so Iruka could wrap the gauze, and then withdrew them completely when Iruka said "I've got it from here, thanks."

Iruka had fallen silent, intent on his task, and Kakashi watched him for a moment before saying "I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei."

The surprise on the chunin's face mirrored Kakashi's own feelings. Iruka reached to catch the bandage roll he had dropped and which was now rolling away from him, using the motion as an excuse to duck his head down out of Kakashi's sight. He kept his face down as he started re-rolling the bandage and asked, "Sorry for what?"

Kakashi hadn't planned to apologize, it had just kind of come out. He had to think for a minute about what he was apologizing for. He studied the top of the Chunin's head as he gathered his thoughts, noting the highlights bleached into the dark hair by long hours in the sun. "I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you. And for the things I said. I don't think of the kids just as subordinates. They're my team, but their also you're former students and you have a right to your concern for them."

Iruka silently finished rolling his bandage, then reached out to resume wrapping Kakashi's arm. "Of course you don't think of them like that. I know that." Iruka sighed heavily. " They're my first graduated class, and I haven't gotten to see them much since graduation. I wasn't aware of how much they've grown in the past six months. I'm proud of them all and shouldn't try to hold them back. It's just hard for me to think of them out there," he made a vague gesture around them, "on their own."

Kakashi nodded his understanding. "I just want them to be ready for when they're out there, on their own."

Iruka nodded. "Then there are the ones like Naruto and Sasuke, who have no parents to speak up for them. Or Hinata, who's father pushes to hard." His face tensed up at the mention of Hyuuga Hiashi, then turned thoughtful again as he continued. "I just want to watch out for them. Make sure they don't get pushed into something they're not ready for." He raised his eyes to try to meet Kakashi's. "I'm sure you had someone who watched out for you when you were growing up, made sure you didn't get pushed to hard."

Kakashi looked away, across the field. "No one ever thought I wasn't ready for the next step." He was going to say more but stopped, surprised at the bitterness in his voice. Surprised that it showed. Surprised that it was there.

"Ever? No one ever expressed concern about your advancement?"

"Once. My sensei. He didn't want me joining ANBU. He said…"

"Said what?" Iruka asked gently, eyes searching his face.

"Nothing."

Iruka was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry, Kakashi."

Kakashi didn't even register the lack of honorific from the normally polite sensei. He knew the Chunin wasn't apologizing for anything. He was offering his sympathy. His condolences.

Iruka finished wrapping Kakashi's arm in silence and was trimming the excess bandage material when Kakashi suddenly spoke again.

"As for Naruto and Sasuke, I watch out for them now. I won't push them into anything they aren't ready for."

Or would he? It was a thought he'd been having ever since the mission to Wave country. The mission he could have turned back on and no one would have questioned his decision. The mission where he lead a green team of Genin into a probable ambush. The mission where Sasuke had almost died.

Iruka placed Kakashi's neatly wrapped arm back in his lap, "I guess we both look out for the kids in different ways."

"I guess."

They sat quietly for a moment, then Iruka perked up and looked at Kakashi with a mischeivious grin on his face. "Do you need help cleaning your other wound?"

"My other wound?"

"Yeah, you know." And with that Iruka reached around smacked Kakashi right on the butt.

Kakashi stared at the grinning academy sensei in shock for almost a full minute before Iruka broke their silence.

"I told you Kurenai was a smart woman."

"Wha-? Oh." Kakashi sighed as Iruka's grin grew from smug to something that could only be described as shit-eating. He tried to raise his hand and wasn't surprised when he couldn't. He doubted he needed to at this point.

"Kai."

When he muttered the word he found himself sitting in the middle of the field, tied hand to foot, with a giggling Kurenai sitting across from him.

. . .

. . .

Iruka thought the match might be over when Kakashi's chackra flared wildly but didn't free him from Kurenai's spell. When Kakashi freed himself by, well, by...stabbing himself …Iruka did all he could to quiet the blond Genin rolling on the ground, pointing and laughing loudly at their sensei. Kakashi didn't seem like the easily embarrassed type, but not all teachers enjoyed being laughed at by their pupils.

"That's better than what he was doing before! Dattebayo!"

"What was he doing before?"

The thought of whatever had happened before had Naruto laughing all over again, so Sakura filled him in. "He went crazy, running all over the field, waving his arms, yelling."

"Yelling what?"

"I think it was 'Damn you, Kurenai, You know I'm allergic!', and then some…other stuff" the young kunoichi recited, clearly uncomfortable to be speaking of her superiors in such a way, even if the words weren't her own. "I told you, crazy."

Iruka imagined what the "other stuff" Kakashi said was. He would have to ask Kurenai later what she had concocted to put the normally unflappable Jounin in such a panic. "Where did they go?" he asked, turning back to an empty field.

Sasuke was the only one still following the match. "Kakashi's underground, Kurenai-sensei is in the trees somewhere on the east side."

"Underground?"

"Hn." was all he got by way of explanation until he saw Kurenai appear at the edge of the woods. A moment later Kakashi erupted out of the ground at her feet, swinging away, but the kunoichi seemed to be expecting that. She leapt into the branches above her as a kunai sailed through the air from the east side of the field to bury itself in Kakashi's back. Iruka tensed, then relaxed a moment later when Kakashi poofed into thin air. A clone.

Iruka scanned the area, thinking that the two Jounin would probably finish their fight out of sight in the trees. They heard a commotion at the far end of the field, and a moment later Kakashi sensei burst through the bushes, two Kurenai's hot on his heels and throwing weapons. Kakashi made hand signs as he ran. With a quick look over his shoulder, he made one last seal and disappeared. A second later he erupted from the ground, taking out one of the Kurenai's.

The remaining Kurenai launched into an immediate attack, again trying to get Kakashi off balance before he got his bearings, but Kakashi was too quick. He attacked Kurenai with a series of punches, and now it was her turn to be off balance. Seeing his opening, Kakashi started weaving hand signs, then suddenly stopped. His body stiffened, then twitched. He took a few deep breaths before raising a hand slowly and shouting "Kai!"

Kakashi stood in the field, panting, searching the area, not seeming to see Kurenai in front of him and a little to his left. He said something that Iruka couldn't quite make out, but he thought he heard the word 'sensei'. Kurenai slowly walked over to Kakashi and stood in front of him. They seemed to talk quietly, then Kakashi holstered his kunai and Iruka saw Kurenai take hold of his hand. Kakashi jerked his arm away, but after a second she took it again and this time he let her hold it. As if Kakashi and Kurenai standing in a field holding hands wasn't strange enough, next Kurenai put her other hand gently on Kakashi's shoulder to guide him down until he was seated schoolyard style in the field. Iruka could see Kurenai's lips moving but could't hear what she was saying as she reached into her bag and pulled out what looked looked like chakra wire and started slowly tying it around Kakashi's wrist. She carefully secured his left hand to his right ankle, which was tucked up underneath him.

Naruto was watching the scene with disbelieving eyes. "What's going on, Iruka-sensei? Why is Kakashi-sensei just sitting there letting her tie him up? He isn't even fighting! He can't be THAT lazy!"

"She has him in a genjutsu, dobe. I can see the disturbance in his chakra. You'd be able to feel her chakra if you shut up long enough to notice it."

"You shut up, baka! I wasn't asking you! And if it's a genjutsu, then why isn't he breaking out of it? He isn't even trying."

Sasuke just shrugged and continued watching the goings-on in the field, so Sakura answered for him. "Maybe he doesn't realize he's trapped."

"No way! Kakashi-sensei's too smart to fall for some dumb trick."

"Kakashi-sensei says sometimes subtle genjutsu are the best, because they're harder to detect, and that if you create a pleasant scene then the person is less likely to fight it."

"And Kurenai is the village's top genjutsu specialist." Iruka added. "If anyone can create a subtle illusion, it would be her."

Out on the field, Kakashi now sat with each of his hands tied closely to the nearest ankle. Tied that way, he couldn't make hand signs, couldn't even stand up, and the chakra wire would prohibit him from performing any jutsu. Kakashi didn't seem to bothered by any of this as he and Kurenai continued their quiet conversation. Iruka wondered how long Kurenai would let him stay that way. She obviously won the match, it didn't seem fair to keep toying with her opponent like that. He was just about to ask Sasuke if Kakashi was still under the influence of the genjutsu, and if so he'd be having a talk with Kurenai-sensei later about abuse of power and taking advantage of a comrade, when he saw Kurenai's shoulders begin to shake. She was laughing. He saw Kakashi try to move a hand, then saw his customary slouch deepen in defeat. Kurenai laughed harder, the sound carrying across the field as she moved to untie one of Kakashi's hands. She paused and said, loudly enough for their observers to hear, "Hatake Kakashi, do you concede this match?"

Iruka could see the defeated man nod his head, but was too far away to hear anything he might have said.

Kurenai untied each of Kakashi's hands and then helped him up, clapping him on the back as they walked back to their small group of observers. Naruto rushed up to Kakashi as the man bent to gather his belongings. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei! How did she catch you? You weren't even fighting! Was it some super powerful genjutsu? Did you copy it? Can you teach it to me?"

"No, Naruto, it wasn't a powerful genjutsu. She just," Kakashi cast a quick glance toward Iruka, and Iruka could have sworn he saw the masked Jounin blush.

"She exploited one of my weaknesses."