Disclaimer: I don't own the unparalleled Naruto. I am not making money off this fanfiction story.
A/N: Original completion date: approx. 5/6/10. I apologize if the chapters are a little short; I just wanted to divide the scenes up adequately. Review once you read, won't you?
Rated K+ for ninja fights.
Maybe
Yes, it was that time of day again—the time that Naruto got into trouble. Sometimes it was before breakfast, sometimes after lights-out, sometimes while hanging upside-down, sometimes while hanging his head. Although, this had to be the only time he got chewed out while lying flat on his back in a hospital bed.
"UZUMAKI NARUTO!" Iruka bellowed, storming into the room, livid with anger. "Do you have any brains at all?!"
"Aaaw, Master Iruka . . ." Naruto whined.
"Don't try to explain yourself out of this one, Naruto," Iruka told him. He perched on the bed's edge and poked his young charge in the chest. "Under no circumstances are cadets to leave the village alone—and don't you dare pretend not to know that rule!" he shouted when Naruto opened his mouth to butt in. "You're just lucky I was there to protect you."
"I could've held them off myself," Naruto protested, sticking out his lower lip in a pout.
"Not in your wildest dreams!" Iruka contradicted him, irate. "And if I ever catch you doing something so stupid again, I'll personally expel you from the Academy!" He stomped out again and leaned against the wall in the hallway. The nurse on duty shook her head in understanding.
"All boys can be idiots sometimes, Master Iruka," she said with a laugh. Iruka nodded and sighed.
"Yeah. Take good care of him for me, will you?"
"Of course," she assured him. She entered Naruto's room and examined the little cadet, checking his bandages, body temperature, and chakra level. Naruto was every medic ninja's dream: even after the beating he'd taken, he had already largely recovered. He bounced back from any injury with shocking rapidity. In fact, he could probably be released from the hospital within a few hours' time.
Naruto sulked and moped, burying his head in the pillow or turning to gaze despondently out the window. Perhaps he took Iruka's abuse harder than most people realized. The nurse shook her head again. Master Iruka could be harsh when he was in the middle of a lecture. But Naruto hadn't seen Iruka go white when he was first told that Naruto was missing. He had been unconscious when Iruka fought like a one-man cell to save him from Amegakure ninja that dropped from the skies like rain. He hadn't been around to see Iruka pacing for one and a half hours on the hospital lawn, waiting for him to wake up. Nor had he seen the relief wash over Master Iruka's face when he found out that Naruto would be all right.
Maybe Iruka cared more than Naruto would ever know.