Umino Iruka, Jonin of Konohagakure, starred at the scroll in his hands. He still, despite holding the quite tangible object, could not fully accept its existence.
"With all due respect, Hokage-sama," Iruka began. "Are you sure I am the right person for this… job?"
Tsunade sighed, both hands rubbing her temple, as if they could ease some of the pressure she was under. The decision at hand was not one easily reached. "Iruka, I'm going to be honest with you – I'm not sure this will even work. The specialists who designed this don't even believe it will work. If I wasn't so afraid of it being the one time I'd win – I would bet on that scroll being nothing but a dud. On the off chance it does work, we need someone skilled enough that they could carry out the mission without hindrance. If it does, as we assume it will, nothing – well, at least it was worth the try." Despite this last bit, Tsunade was still unsure if the resources used in creating that scroll were worth it. Twenty of the best fuinjutsu experts Konoha had – minus the old pervert and his student – for an off-shot chance at something mentioned only once in a book so old half the symbols didn't even have a modern equivalent. The operation was extremely questionable at best.
The Jonin interrupted her negative train of thought: "and if it fails horribly?"
"How horribly," Tsunade shot back. Iruka simply raised an eyebrow – well, the one he had left.
Tsunade sighed, "Iruka, you and I both know your rank is less out of skill and more out of need – add in your injury-" at this, the bandaged right-half of Iruka's face twitched "-and you are the most skilled ninja the council considers expendable."
Those words would normally be a great insult, and Iruka would have insisted that no ninja – regardless of rank – was expendable, but the former Chunin instructor knew that, in a war such as this, the pool of 'expendable' ninja grew much larger than what the council members already considered.
"Very well, Hokage-sama," Iruka said, shoulders slumping in acceptance. "When shall I depart?"
The Sandaime's second successor's eyes softened. "Immediately." Iruka opened his mouth to speak, but the Slug Sanin cut him off, hand raised. "Whether this succeeds or fails, no one outside of this room or the council is to know of this."
His mind making the connection between the council and secrets, Iruka gave one final comment. "And as we both know, the council is amazing at keeping secrets."
Understanding that his comment was the end of the conversation, Iruka bowed low. "By your word, Hokage-sama." He turned and left, noticing Tsunade pull out a jug of sake as he did. He passed Shizune in the hallway, but outside of a small nod in her direction, said nothing.
S,IS!...x…S,IS!...x…S,IS!...x…S,IS!...x…S,IS!...x…S,IS!...x…S,IS!...x…S,IS!...x…S,IS!
Tossing the last of his gear into a small case, he sealed the container into a storage scroll spread out on his futon. Sighing, the overstressed nin looked over the bare bones of what was left of his already-spartan apartment. Having removed all the weapons, clothes, and scrolls he expected to need, it left only the futon, a few pictures, some food he had decided against taking, and a small potted plant.
The Jonin walked over to the plant – it had seen better days, but considering what he would be doing in the next few hours, this may or may not be the best it would look for the immediate future. Or perhaps it would look better in the 'future'? Iruka sighed and left those thoughts alone – if the specialists couldn't give a definite answer of what the scroll would do, he doubted his own insights would be any more useful. Looking over at the pile of food he was not taking, Iruka noticed a few packets of ramen. He wished those, and the plant, could be left with Naruto, but doing so would bring up questions he couldn't answer.
Naruto. The sensei wished desperately he could say farewell to his former student, but he knew it would do no good – for him or the energetic blonde, who would no doubt insist on him being the one to test the scroll, or else insist his sensei did not go alone, but they had no other ninja to spare, and Naruto was needed far more here, defending Konoha.
Moving his thoughts along, Iruka walked over to his desk and the few picture frames resting on it. The first one was of him and Mizuki, taken on the day he was approved as an academy teacher. Seeing the smile the two shared – and Mizuki's hand resting on Iruka's shoulder – only reminded him of the traitor nin's intentions. Taking some of the courage he had gathered for his assigned mission, Iruka pulled the picture out of the frame and, a few seconds and one small fire jutsu later, the picture was just a pile of ashes on the floor. Biting his lip to help hold back tears, the Jonin moved on to the next picture. This one was of him and his Genin team – another male, the kunoichi of the trio, and then himself, with their sensei behind them, hands on each of the males, a smile on his face. He tore the top half – his sensei – off the picture and burned it, tucking the other half into a pocket of his Jonin vest. Finally, the emotional nin picked up the last frame. It held a picture of himself and his students – those who had passed the final test at least. This one found its way into his vest, alongside the picture of his team sans-sensei.
Iruka closed his eyes and allowed himself a single grim smile. In a few hours he would either be dead, back on the front lines, or… well, he tried not to think about the last option – about what would happen if he succeeded. He was finally moving beyond his past, no need to remember it now.
Giving his room one final look-over, Iruka picked up his storage scrolls, locked the apartment, and left.
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He met them at the tower in the center of training ground forty-four. The Hokage, along with the six fuinjutsu experts who had been recruited to make the scroll, were already prepared. It did not surprise him either when two Anbu stepped out of the forest behind him – it was essential after all that the Hokage ensures he was not followed. Calming his nerves, he approached the group.
"Hokage-sama," he said, bowing to the Sanin. Tsunade waited for him to rise, then nodded to one of the specialists, encouraging him to speak. The man stepped forward, facing Iruka.
"Jonin-san, please stand in the middle of our circle, and unfold the scroll over the ground underneath you" the nin repeated a phrase with practiced ease. Or at least, Iruka hoped it was from practice, he did not want to consider if this was possibly not the first time they attempted something of this scale. After following the instructions, the former Chunin turned toward the Hokage.
"I am ready."
Tsunade paused. "You do realize, Iruka," she said. "We have no idea whether this will work, or if it will change anything for us."
The addressed nin looked at his superior. "If you are trying to encourage me, you would have been better off quoting Gai." He shrugged his shoulders, partly to try to calm himself down, mostly just as a nervous tick. "I'm as ready as I will ever be, Hokage-sama."
Tsunade, for her part, did remain calm – years of sending leaf nin to their deaths had allowed her to shrug her discomfort off for the present, saving it for a future moment when she could allow herself to be weak. Now was not that moment. Now she had to be strong. Motioning to the gathered specialists, she, as well as they, began to pour their chakra into the scroll at the Jonin's feet. The scroll began to glow, as did the earth around it. It shifted from a white light, to yellow, to orange, eventually taking on a hellish red. As the shinobi around him grew tired, Iruka took up the final leg of this chakra race himself – shoving everything he had into the scroll. The others stopped, exhausted, as Iruka broke out in sweat, not only pushing his own energy into the paper below him, but holding back that of his allies as well. Finally, he grew too weak to continue, and the light exploded out of the scroll, the kanji seemed to float off the page as the world around him spun, fading to black.
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As the world came back into view, it seemed strange to Iruka. For one thing, he could hear birds, and if the blur of colors he saw was anything to go by, the trees Konoha was famous for were still alive and growing. Iruka shut his eyes in frustration. There was no way that scroll could have worked, the theory behind it was sketchy at best! Ignoring the headache raging inside him, the Jonin propped himself up on his elbows and looked around. He was still in the clearing at the center of training ground forty four...
Either one of the specialists had a sick idea of humor, or he was dead.
Iruka gathered his chakra with a single sign, forming a small sphere at his navel. "Kai!" But the images before him remained. Sighing, Iruka pulled a kunai out of the holster at his side. It was at this point that he realized he was dressed in old, standard issue chunin gear. His gear had evidently not come with him, if the jutsu did indeed work. Bracing himself, the former teacher did what he always taught his students was the last resort for escaping a genjutsu – he sliced the kunai across his forearm, inflicting pain on himself.
Nothing changed.
"You know, Iruka, if you want to bleed there's more fun ways to go about it," a female voice called out from above him. "I hear Ibiki's getting pretty bored nowadays."
Looking around, Iruka spotted the speaker crouching on a tree branch above him. His face blanched and his mouth turned down into a small frown. This was too soon – he had hoped for some time, a few minutes at least, to adjust if the scroll happened to work. Fate had other plans, however.
"Hello, Anko," the nervous Jonin squeaked out. The snake mistress' own smirk quickly turned down.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of me, Dolphin," she complained. "It's bad enough with the rest of the village acting like newly minted Genin – you at least know me well enough."
"Sorry," Iruka said, voice growing louder as he grew more confidant. From the way Anko was dressed – skimpy as usual – and the tone she was speaking to him in, he was able to start getting an idea of around what time it was. "It's been a long day for me, and I'm just nervous. I don't fear you Anko."
A smile bloomed on the scantily clad woman's face, sending shivers down Iruka's spine. "Not afraid of me, huh, then how about a light spar, seeing as you are taking up my training ground," she challenged him.
Iruka refrained from pointing out that any Leaf shinobi could use any of the training grounds, with the exception of ANBU practice fields and the academy's student fields. "As much as I would love to, I really should be go-"
"Cut the bullshit, Iruka," Anko cut him off. "You have time to spar – you never did win our bet you know." The male nin frowned at this – he didn't know the exact date so he was unable to give an excuse, and that- that agreement he had made with Anko as a Genin was not something he wanted to remember. Sighing, he agreed.
"Fine Anko, a light spar – taijutsu and throwing weapons on-" again, the Jonin was cut off as the woman launched herself out of the tree and down at him. For his part, Iruka managed to react quickly and roll out of the way of Anko's drop kick. As her heel smashed a small hole in the ground – having been empowered both by gravity and by chakra – Iruka stood and gulped. It had been hard to twist his muscles to avoid that kick. He realized that his body must have changed as well when the scroll activated – it felt unnatural, responding differently than he expected. He wondered if this is what it was like for a Yamanaka.
Leaping to his feet, Iruka pulled a handful of shuriken from each pouch on his left and right legs – even after so many years, Iruka had never changed how he stored his equipment. It allowed him to grab and use various ninja tools faster and with greater accuracy, as it was able to be practiced until it was reflexive. His sensei had always stressed doing everything you could – using any small trick – to tap into your full potential for power.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, the nin rushed at Anko, who was now facing him and bracing herself to leap away. Iruko took aim and threw, scattering the shuriken not at Anko, but into the air around her, limiting where she could dodge. Putting on a burst of speed, he reached her just as the shuriken did. He pulled back a hand, ready to go on the offensive, but being as he was still unused to his smaller body, he underestimated his reach and undershot, whiffing through the air in front of Anko's guard. Luckily for him, doing so brought him down into a crouch, and he was able to launch up and underneath Anko's arms – his hitai-ate connecting with her collarbone. Both nin stumbled back, quickly forming down into their taijutsu stances.
Anko smirked. "You know Iruka, you may have managed to put a trick or two up your sleeves," she called out. "But you aren't the only one."
At this, the snake mistress reached into her trench coat and pulled out three sticks of dango wrapped in paper to preserve their warmth. She pulled off the wraps and began eating the food.
"Say, Iruka," she called out, halfway through her final stick. "The academy starts tomorrow, doesn't it?"
Iruka perked up at this – at last, some information about the time he was in. "Yeah, Anko – why do you ask?"
She thought for a moment, before replying, "well, don't you teachers usually, you know, meet the class for an hour or so the day before to start introductions? You might not want to miss your own first day of school, Sensei."
Iruka's face flushed a light red as she stressed the honorific – so he has only just been appointed an academy teacher then? He still remembered the day he met his class – because he was a new teacher, he had last pick of when he was able to meet his class, as each class would take up the academy's rather small training fields in order to either gauge the new student's skill levels or ensure returning students did not slack off over the break. Looking at the sun, Iruka estimated that he had only an hour at most before his time slot began – and Anko's words carried far more weight than she realized. His main goal was to change what he could for the better – and for him, that began with making sure his class was far more prepared than they had been. It would require some work, but he would find a way, even if it meant teaching them outside of the set school hours.
The Jonin – although at this point Iruka realized he would have to resign himself to Chunin duties once again – was brought out of his thoughts by three sharpened dango sticks speeding toward him – moving far faster and with more accuracy than he remembered Anko capable of naturally. Bringing his hands up to form a single sign, Iuka shunshined behind Anko – although he was not as quick as he had hoped, and one of his cheeks had a deep cut from one of the sticks. Latching onto the snake mistress was difficult, but Iruka managed to win the grapple and flipped her over, using his own chakra to add strength. Of course, Anko flipped the tables herself, and brought him crashing down next to her immediately after. Both shinobi laid still, catching their breath after exhausting themselves in the grapple. Anko looked over at Iruka.
"That wasn't fair you know, that shunshin – didn't you say something about taijutsu and weapons only?"
"That was before you used chakra to enhance your kick and throwing sticks," the weary sensei shot back.
Anko snorted, before erupting into laughter. Iruka simply stared – he didn't remember him and Anko getting along this easy in the past. Shrugging his shoulders, the academy instructor stood, wiping dirt, dust, and grass off his clothes a best as he could.
"Well then," he called out. "I should get going before I'm late to the academy." Had his own instructors heard him say that, they would have had a heart attack. As it was they simply rolled in their graves. Iruka gave one last glance at Anko, who was still on the ground with peals of laughter slipping out of her grinning mouth, and then shunshined away.
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A/N: First off, let me begin this by saying this is the longest chapter I have ever written – seven pages in my word processor.
Secondly, to anyone who actually reads my other stories – I would like to continue them, but all information I had on them was lost with my old computer.
Finally, I'm going to use the A/Ns below here to answer any questions you might have about the story – or if there are not questions, explain the choices I'm making as a writer. If only so I can get a better idea of why I write what I do myself.
So since this is the first time doing this, I'll explain something that is probably making you all wonder: why Iruka?
We've all read time-travel stories, they aren't new to , and most certainly not new to the Naruto fandom. That said, who is always the person(s) going back? Naruto, or X and Naruto, or Y who happens to go back for the purpose of making just Naruto stronger, or any number of characters, but always either including Naruto, or with the goal of helping Naruto – everything else that happens and everyone else who grows just happens because of the Butterfly Effect, nothing to do with the time-traveler directly changing them. But here's my problem – specifically with fics that send Naruto or Kakashi or a super-powered whoever back – time-travel is sketchy at best. Let's admit it, any fic that doesn't admit that this is a last resort is not being honest with itself. Now I understand if the people being sent back is for the humor of the story, or because they are the only ones left alive, but if you are going to make a story where they just happened to be selected to go back in time, think: why? Why them? This is something that has no guarantee to succeed – they are not going to risk their most powerful shinobi on an off-chance. Yes, they have to be strong and trustworthy and determined in case this does work, but you don't use your strongest nin as canon fodder. Even Orochimaru had the sense to test the Curse Seal on unimportant people before applying it to his main soldiers/new hosts! So the nin must be strong, but not necessarily important or priceless. Hence Iruka.
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." – J.F.K. during his Inaugural Address
~Kep