RELIANCE

~insanity and co~

Author's Note: No big news yet on this story, just busting some more chapters out. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do own the enemies I have fabricated, and the situation's I've put the character's in.

And away we go!

"It was a waste of time to send us there in the first place!" Hana Inuzuka yelled, stance wide and arms spread out, looking as if she would lunge across the room at any moment. Tsunade knew there was little chance of that (still, though, a chance) and sat calmly behind her desk, fingers steepled as she let the girl scream on. Hana's jaw was clenched and her ponytail had come undone several minutes ago; the band was laying on the floor and her long hair whipped around her head with every sharp and aggressive movement. "What were we even doing there then? Huh? It was pointless and a waste of manpower if you didn't intend to let us do anything about them! We couldn't even get a proper location because he pulled us back!"

Hana spun around and pointed an accusing finger at her team's captain, who stood against the wall and turned to Tsunade with wide eyes. The wild girl before him was a newer addition to his team, and the sheer volume of her voice and the sharpness of her insults had surprised him, to say the least.

"Calm down, Hana-"

"I will not calm down and don't talk to me like I'm a dog that needs to be trained!" she screeched indignantly, looking more and more like a feral animal as the minutes dragged on. "We could have done something about the people who hurt Kiba but he pulled us back. The mission was useless because of you!"

Once more, Hana took a step towards her team captain, and he took one back, hands flexing at his sides as if waiting for her to finally jump forward and attack him.

"Hana." Tsunade's firm tone finally shuts up the irate girl, who stands with her hair wild around her face and eyes wide. "He called the team back to Konoha for a good reason." This didn't seem to have a calming effect on Hana, but Tsunade wasn't expecting it to. She held up a hand as the girl's mouth opened, ready to send another spitting insult in either her direction or her captain's - it didn't really matter either way. "The mission was to track the shinobi who attacked Kiba and Shino, and you did."

"But we couldn't-"

"Your mission wasn't to follow and destroy, Hana," Tsunade held up her hand again, amused only a little by the way she followed that command so naturally. "The location of the shinobi was found, and as per my orders, your captain pulled you back."

There was a long pause while Hana stood fuming in the middle of the room, though she finally appeared to be calming down. Her captain, however, didn't look like he was going to take his wary eyes off of her, and Tsunade figured she would get a transfer request with their names on it in the near future.

The few shinobi that lined the walls finally seemed to gain Hana's attention, though almost all had been watching her intently since she kicked the doors open and screamed loud enough to burst some ear drums. Kakashi sat at a small desk beside Tsunade's own, reclined with a scroll in his hand and watching the kunoichi with a raised eyebrow, and Izumo stood against the wall near the door, mouth agape since the screaming began.

Embarrassment looked bizarre on the wild Inuzuka girl, Tsunade decided as she watched Hana glance around the room, cheeks turning pink though her eyes periodically turned sharply to her captain. Tsunade figured she wouldn't completely calm down until she could get her claws on whoever had hurt her little brother.

A faint scream came in through the hallway, bouncing around the walls before it actually reached the Hokage and the shinobi.

"This is not going to happen! No way in fucking hell." The words got louder slowly, and even Hana turned to the open doorway as the stomps of an even more irate shinobi echoed through the hall.

Iruka's booming voice carried into the hallway as he continued, shaking his head, ranting and raving all to get the point 'no' across the large desk to Tsunade, who sat calmly with her hands in her lap. Today had been a long day, and Tsunade's patience for screamingly mad ninja was running desperately thin.

Iruka came stomping into the Hokage's office, a mission's scroll held so tightly in his hand that it was now crinkled and bent. His face was red from screaming and the shinobi around the room who knew well of Iruka's temper let their pens drop to their desks; in this situation, the mere sound of something scratching on paper could set him off in their direction next. Kakashi was the only one who didn't look startled by the sheer volume of his cries, and set his own scroll down as well.

"No!" Iruka finally yelled, fists clenched as he threw the scroll onto the Hokage's desk. It bounced and rolled only halfway across the desk to Tsunade, and Iruka took deep breaths through clenched teeth.

"No?" Tsunade asked, watching as Iruka snarled. It was a reaction more fitting for the shocked Inuzuka next to him, and made him look a little...un-tamed.

"Yes. No." Iruka spat, turning his glare to the scroll as if it was the bane of his very existence. Tsunade grabbed the bent scroll and unraveled it briefly, tearing an edge. She remained aloof, though she had to work to hide the smile as she got such a strong reaction from the ex-teacher.

"You are back on regular mission's duty, correct?" There was no response, but then again, Tsunade wasn't expecting anything but more screaming from the irate man. "Iruka-san, I believe it's very rude to turn missions down when you're hand-picked for them." Tsunade spoke in slow, calm words before even looking up at the shinobi, letting just enough amusement flow into her voice and she watched the scar across Iruka's nose crinkled in the effort to hide another growl.

"I don't care." The normally polite teacher looked as if he were about to spit in rage, but the Hokage sat silently for a few moments, letting Iruka's breaths slow, though he was far from calm when she broke the silence.

"And I don't care if you don't want to go," Tsunade briefly wondered how sick it was to be amused by such a strong reaction, "it's your mission."

For a moment, Iruka's jaw hung open, face still red and a few pieces of hair falling out of his ponytail.

"You bitch!" At this, everyone in the room who hadn't looked appalled before, did now. Even Kakashi's eyes were wide, looking to the Hokage to predict how the turn to personal attacks would be received. "This is a sick idea of a mission that will get a young child killed."

Everyone's interest seemed to peak at this, eyes flying between Iruka and the scroll now rolled back up and pushed aside.

"I will not be apart of your twisted game of sacrificing your own shinobi," Iruka spat, looking more and more disgusted as the seconds ticked on.

"You will," Tsunade spoke calmly, trying the same tactic that she had used with Hana moments before and holding a hand up to silence him.

"Do you get some sick pleasure out of using humans like they're a game of chess? Who cares if a few die, right? As long as they're pawns and not pieces that matter."

"Shut up!" Tsunade's hand flew out and slammed on her desk as she stood, bent low to look across her desk at Iruka, who looked like he may actually be sick at any moment. "I don't care who you are, nobody accuses me of not caring about the lives of Leaf shinobi." Iruka didn't respond, but the sour expression on his face said he didn't believe her, either. "I chose her because of her skills and talents. In this situation, age does not matter. Quiet!" Iruka opened his mouth but she pointed a finger in his direction and her words were firm. Her voice was slow to steady her own temper as she continued, hands firmly planted on her desk, eyes daring Iruka to interrupt her again. "I chose you because you're fitting for the position. As her previous teacher, she listens to you more-so than her jounin sensei. That is absolutely essential for this mission to be completed."

Tsunade sat back down with a thud, looking exhausted from today's turn of events.

"Send an older shinobi. I know there aren't many available right now," Iruka cringed as his comment was taken the wrong way, but he continued on. "But there's got to be someone else who can do this." Since the previous war, Konoha had lost many of it's elite shinobi. Tsunade's eyes lowered to her desk to collect herself as her temper ran wild, aware that his words hadn't been an accusation of their deaths being on her hands. Over the past few months, many teams had been sent out to farther away missions, and Konoha was generally lacking in elite shinobi at the moment.

"There's not," she said shortly, eyes tired and void of that previous fire when she looked back up at Iruka. "I'm sorry, but this is your mission."

Iruka stood in the middle of the room, eyes fixed on his Hokage as he thought silently to himself. Kakashi picked up his scroll again, recognizing Iruka's frustration when his hand flew to his head to calm the wild pieces that framed his face.

Tsunade took the mission scroll and tossed it back to Iruka. He caught it, looking more off-guard than a trained shinobi should be. "You're dismissed."

Iruka stood silently for a moment, just staring at the scroll before turning and leaving the room, eyes widening as he took in the amount of people in the room that had slipped through his attention. A shock of silver hair had Iruka's gaze lingering on the Copy Ninja, but Iruka left the room quietly, closing the door with an almost-silent click - a bizarrely quiet exit considering his entrance had been so massive.

Hana glanced around the room, temper now gone though her eyes lingered on her captain for a moment. Realizing that Tsunade was no longer paying attention to her and was now pulling several books off the shelf behind her desk, Hana slipped out of the room as well, closing the door quietly behind her.

Iruka's pace quickened as the heard the second click, surprised when he saw the reflection of Hana in the glass at the end of the hallway. He wasn't sure who he was expecting - Kakashi seemed like the only one in the room who would have followed him after such an explosive fight - but then again, he knew the kind of pressure the elite shinobi were under during these rougher times.

"You have to go." Her words were pained and forced, her voice hoarse from screaming and tired from fighting.

"I don't want to," Iruka said quietly, turning to lean against the wall and feeling more physically exhausted than he had in a while.

Hana didn't say anything for a moment, but just as Iruka was about to turn and leave the building she opened her mouth and closed it again, fighting for the right words to say to convince the older shinobi.

"I don't know the specifics of your mission," she admitted, pointing to the scroll in his hand and then holding her arms, "but whoever you're going after hurt Kiba and Akamaru. Please, we- I need to find out who did it." This feeling of vulnerability felt foreign to Hana and her arms tightened around her stomach, her desire for it to leave turning into a physical defense.

Iruka didn't say anything for a while. He had known that Kiba was now in the hospital, as it made him almost as sick as the thought of sending an even younger shinobi into the grasps of the people responsible. He fought with these feelings for a moment, the two standing silently in the hallway.

"I'll think about it," he finally said, glancing at Hana long enough to see her temper flare before he left. The fight with Tsunade had left him feeling both physically and mentally drained; another battle with the Inuzuka girl would prove to be too much for the day, Iruka decided, turning the corner and leaving her behind.

Iruka watched his feet, feeling like his sandals were filled with rocks with every step he took. He marveled at how an emotional reaction could so easily effect him physically, but he mostly just watched his feet, feeling too tired to dwell on his emotional distress. The scroll felt heavy in his pocket and Iruka kept his hands close to his side, feeling like he would be burned by the paper if he touched it. He would somehow be accepting the mission if he were to touch it - without burning it, that is. Iruka had hoped that with each step he would slowly figure out the right thing to do, but he was far from the Hokage Tower by now and his mind was still racing between accepting and declining the mission.

Ultimately, the choice was Iruka's. A shinobi couldn't be forced to take a mission they weren't comfortable in, but more often than not, the ninja trusted their Hokage enough to blindly trust their decision as well. Iruka had falling into those steps since he had been back on active duty, but when he had opened that scroll in the Mission's Room he thought for sure he would throw up right then and there.

Tsunade did have her reasons - that was something Iruka wasn't expecting - but that didn't make Iruka's nerves calm down. The idea was still fresh in his mind and proper reason was hard to swallow.

His tired feet brought him past the Academy, and while the sun was slowly starting to go down now and the students had long-since gone home to their families, the light to the teacher's lounge was still on, casting a light across the grass of the playground.

Iruka maneuvered the familiar hallways and pushed the door open to the lounge, feeling sluggish and exhausted as he waved hello to Daimou - one of the two remaining teachers of the school who had been too old to even offer returning to active duty again. At one point, Daimou had been a wonderful ninja, but at some point over his career he had suffered an injury to his leg that left him unable to properly fight. The man, now a calmer and happier version of his younger self, had been teaching at the Academy ever since, helping Iruka learn to teach.

The old man looked surprised to see Iruka, but the lines around his face intensified as he smiled pleasantly all the same and pointed to the coffee machine on the counter.

"Just made a fresh batch if you want some. You look tired," he commented kindly, taking a sip from his own cup and setting it down on the table beside him - his own filled with homework and quizzes and tests.

"No thanks, I won't be staying long." The familiar room brought a pang of homesickness to Iruka's chest, even though it had not been long when he, himself, would be sitting in this very room grading papers into the dead of night. The coffee machine gurgled loudly and turned off, the jar filled. In the summer, Iruka would always enjoy opening the window a bit and listening to the kids play and enjoy the breeze.

"How has active duty been treating you?" Daimou asked, glancing up at Iruka from his papers before looking back down, red pen flying over the pages after years of practice.

Iruka sighed and sank into the dirty brown couch. It was uncomfortable, but familiar, and it made Iruka feel a tiny bit better just to be sitting on it again. "I miss teaching," he said solemnly. Daimou chuckled, but didn't say anything. "Tsunade gave me a new mission today, but I don't know if I'm going to accept it yet."

At this, Daimou raised an eyebrow, dark eyes wide as he took in Iruka's exhausted appearance again. "I haven't heard of someone turning down a mission in a long time. This may be a first since Tsunade became Hokage." Iruka was disappointed that his colleague's tone didn't show approval one way or the other - he was just commenting, which wasn't what Iruka was looking for.

"She wants me to take a genin on a mission to North Country, to assess the amount and abilities of the shinobi who attacked Kiba and Akamaru a few days ago. A team tracked them to a spot in the mountains, but Tsunade wants to know more about them before we plan any sort of attack or retaliation." Daimou hummed, flipping a page over to decipher the student's scribbling. Again, Iruka was left disappointed. "It's dangerous, though. And with her being so inexperienced with battling older shinobi... I hate to think of anything happening."

"Who does she want you to take?" Daimou sounded interested as he took another gulp of coffee.

"Hanabi Hyuuga." Daimou's gaze shot back up at Iruka before his shoulders seemed to shrug in an amused chuckle. "What?"

"I can see why she would want you to go," he took a moment to write a grade at the top of the paper before adding it to the 'done' pile to his right. At Iruka's raised eyebrow, Daimou played with the pen in his hands and contemplated the shinobi for a moment. "She's a feisty one."

Iruka let out a sharp laugh. He had been expecting a wise and well-thought out explanation, as was common from the aging ninja.

"Well I know that," Iruka laughed, feeling a bit of weight lift off his shoulders as the old man smiled at him.

"You were her teacher for years and she listens to you," Daimou said, smile still on his face despite the rather serious tone. "It's only logical that Tsunade send her with someone she has experience with - a new teacher would only frustrate the girl if they didn't understand how to work with her."

Iruka felt a little relieved that Daimou was now helping Iruka in a certain direction, it just wasn't the way he wanted. He had gone to the Academy hoping that his fellow teacher would side blindly with him, but Iruka wasn't angry at him for his opinion. Now, as more and more people seemed to gang up on him and push him in the direction that made his stomach sink and his head hurt, Iruka felt like his own argument against going on the mission was lacking.

"Thanks," he said with a smile, standing from the dirty brown couch and leaving the room with a wave.

"Anytime, Iruka."