HUNTING SEASON chapter 01

The gentle sound of splashing water could be heard as one Umino Iruka washed the dishes that had been lying around his apartment since yesterday night. He sighed loudly as he thought about all the mess that Naruto's sleep over had brought with it. Not that he had any right to complain, he had had just as much fun as Naruto, and he was the one who asked the blond boy over in the first place. It was just that he wouldn't have minded if someone helped with clean-up too.

He heard a soft, humming voice coming from upstairs, indicating that Naruto was currently taking a shower, and would soon be in the kitchen, craving (quite loudly) for a quick meal. He put the dishes away and washed his hands and took out bread and other ingredients from the fridge that could be used to make sandwiches. And in no time, just as he had predicted, the sound of someone running down the stairs could be heard.

"NARUTO! Don't run in the house!"

The only warning was a loud "Haaai!" before a golden blur attached itself to his waist, almost knocking him over.

"Ne, ne, what are we eating for breakfast, ne?"

Iruka rolled his eyes at the young boy's behaviour. How did he love this boy so much? With a smile he carried on with the task of making breakfast, thinking how lucky he indeed was.

"Sandwiches? YES ! "

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It was only 7:15 in the morning when he left his apartment and headed towards the academy. He had cleaned up the most of the mess after Naruto left, but he still had to do laundry and clean the bathroom. The part of the house that had taken the worst damage was the bedroom, that had been the battle dome for numerous pillow fights and 'the Buzzer Game' as Naruto called it. The Buzzer Game was a simple game where you had to come up with the a prank and then try to show with body language who was being prank ed and how, while the other kept throwing guesses. The one with the best prank (or rather, the funniest) at the end of the night was declared as a winner and won a piece of ice cream from the packet that Iruka stored in the fridge.

Surprisingly, it had been Iruka who won this time, though he had to say that the prank he used in the game was an old one, and he was still about it. Not many could succeed in pranking ANBU, even less Genin. Attacking the ANBU showers at the headquarters had been a brilliant idea, as that was the place that they least expected anything to happened. It had been really amusing to see the four ANBU operatives that had been unlucky enough to shower as first, all covered in different, shiny summercolors.

What was even funnier, was that the colours weren't completely waterproof, so the red colour had faded to pink when it blended with water. The colour soon washed away from skin, but the colour would not hair, and so they all walked around with colourful hairs for weeks. Though all of them tried masking the hair colour, but keeping up a genjutsu that would fool other Jounin and ANBU simply took too much chakra so one of them locked himself inside four walls and would not show his face before the colour had vanished.

What was best was that he hadn't even officially been caught for it. The Yondaime just showed up at his house the next day and congratulated him for his successful prank, while at the same time making him promise to not do pranks in forbidden areas.

So this time, he won his piece of ice cream, and Naruto ate the rest. Somehow Naruto's logic didn't seem to add together, but he let it go when he saw the happy face of Naruto as he smiled with his mouth full of ice cream.

He continued his walk towards the academy at a peaceful pace and greeted mothers and other by passers every now and then. He didn't know why, but for some reason he attracted people to come and talk with him, were it old ladies or graduated students of his. Long ago when he had realized it, he came up with a game of counting the time people greeted him on his way to the academy. His record stood at 64 at the moment, which was quite remarkable as it was only a 10 min walk from his apartment to the academy.

Today however, he seemed out of luck, as only 12 people greeted him without him making the offensive. Oh well, he could always go and tease Raidou or Genma to lighten up his mood. Those two had been in a significantly bad mood ever since Tsunade-sama caught them having sex on her table, a rumour that had spread to everyone 18 or older in less than 6 hours after said activity. Not that he had anything to do with it of course.

"Iruka sensei."

Iruka looked up and saw Morita-sensei holding up some files to him, and he accepted them with a formal bow and a unsure glance. Morita-sensei seemed to notice this, as he explained shortly that they were the lists of the students that would enter the academy in autumn. Iruka said a quick thank you and walked into the empty classroom where his first lesson of the day would take place. The cold, emotionless emptiness made him remember the time after his parents died , but he had learned from years of experience that he should enjoy the quiet while he had it. Because when the students started flooding in, he wouldn't have peace and quiet even if yarned for it.

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Iruka frowned as he read the names of the children that would be in his class in a few months. He always got the wildest ones, especially after having Naruto. He hoped none of them were like Naruto though. The child was a precious family member to him, but he didn't think he could bear having two Narutos at the same time. The tough of having a class full of class clowns made him smile. Not that it wouldn't be interesting though. He probably wouldn't need to feel bored with a class full of mini Narutos, or rather, they wouldn't let him get bored.

It was already getting late and everyone else had already left, but he was determined to find the files of all his student by tonight, so he could read through them tomorrow. He let out a pleased cry when he found the file of Mitsushiro Zebushi, the last name on his list. He turned around and walked out the door into the hall that was called 'the hall of living hell', something the Jounins had came up with, a small hint to Tsunade about where they did not want to end up. In other words, all the filing was left to the Chuunin.

He was walking through said corridor when he felt a flare of chakra. He quietly put down the files that he had held in his arms and masked his chakra while pulling a kunai from his leg holster. Everyone else had already left, and there was no reason for anyone to visit the building this late at night. In other words, there shouldn't be anyone but him here anymore. The flare of chakra had been what caught his attention, but now that he concentrated on it, he could feel smaller, irregular flares. He frowned as he though about the different courses of action.

Suddenly he heard something hitting one of the tables that was lined a few doors away a 'splash' kind of sound and then he was able to distinguish a dark feature leaning against the wall about 20 meters across the hall. What hit him next was the scent of blood, a lot of blood, and a foreign smell mixing with it. 'Poison,' his mind identified.

A small glance towards the fore-head protector affirmed that this was no enemy and carefully he advanced towards the unknown ninja. He noticed that he was dressed in what looked like a black outfit that reminded him of the one ANBU wore, with exception of the missing armors, but he wasn't sure as blood was flooding the floor, and the outfit didn't look any better, with regular cuts and wet with blood and dirt. He carefully approached the unknown character.

When he was only a few meters away, with kunai still in his grip, the intruder still hadn't acknowledged his presence. He was turned towards the wall and Iruka could now hear the rasping noise of hitched breathing.

"Who are you?"

The ninja jerked away from the wall as if startled, and for a moment Iruka stared into the most beautiful silver-grey eye before said person was by his side and had him sprawled on the floor with a kunai against his throat. Iruka's brain didn't have time to process what had happened before he had hit the floor, and he saw his own kunai several feet away where it had been chucked. Then he turned his attention towards the ninja who was still keeping the kunai on his throat, but hadn't moved since throwing him against the floor.

Iruka looked up at his eye that now seemed unfocused and un aware, and for the first time he noticed that the other eye was covered by the fore-head protector that the man wore, and immediately bells started ringing in his head. 'Hatake Kakashi.' The man startled and looked at him with dimmed eyes. "How do you know my name?" Iruka's eyes widened when he realized that he had said it aloud. Oh shit. The situation didn't seem too good judging by the sharpness in his words . He tried to process the situation before he started to panic and he situation got out of hand.

1.A bloody and heavily damaged, and most likely poisoned man had showed up at the storage rooms in the middle of the night

2.Said man was the Sharingan Kakashi

3.Iruka is lying on the floor with Hatake-san on him with a kunai at his throat

Great. He couldn't wait to see how this turned out. What he knew, however, was that Hatake-san needed medical attention now. Who knows how the poison affected his mental stability. How was it that he always ended up in these situations!

"Hatake-san, calm down."

He tried to have Hatake-san to calm down so that he wouldn't accidentally slit Iruka's throat in, but it didn't seem to have been a very good idea as he felt himself being pushed even harder against the floor.

"Where are we?"

Iruka looked up with a hint of surprise when he heard those words being uttered. Hatake-san didn't know that he was inside Konoha? That would explain the hostility though. All the different possibilities of what could have happened crossed his mind, as he eyed the deadly dangerous man holding him down. He might be able to knock him out in his current state, but the idea didn't appeal too much, as he surely would die if he had underestimated Hatake's condition. His frown deepened at that. So that was left as a last resort, for now he would have to try with peaceful ways and hope that he got out of this alive.

"In Konoha." He could practically see how Hatake's brain processed the information when looking into his uncovered eye. He could only barely hear the whisper that clearly wasn't meant for him to hear. "Konoha..."

"Yes. Konoha. Home."

One last time brown eyes met the silver ones, before the silver one closed. "Home."

Iruka felt the other man falling and felt his panic rising in his chest when the slack body thumped against his chest. 'Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!' He carefully sat up and lifted the body so that he could get up. One pulse check affirmed his suspicions. He was unconscious. Iruka's mind started to race as he pondered on what to do next. He thought about going to get Tsunade and not risk any further injuries by moving him, but he realised by the size of the pool of blood that surrounded them that he wouldn't survive another 10 minutes like this. If he would survive even that long.

He lifted the lifeless body in his arms, trying to be as gentle as possible, and started to run towards the hospital as fast as he ever could.

So, here is chapter 1 of Hunting Season. Though you may think about it as a prelude. The other chapters will be about twice as long, and I will try to update once a week. Please review! All comments appreciated.