The Exhibitionist

Chapter Three

"Kuso!" The curse sprang from Naruto's lips unbidden as the trap he'd been setting up in the only viable entrance of his area failed again. It appeared that, for some reason, traps that work perfectly with paint failed miserably with smoke bombs. He sighed miserably before trying to figure out what went wrong. Hefting the smoke bomb in his hand, he realized that it was quite a bit lighter than the paint balloons he usually used for this sort of thing. Eyes narrowing, he realized that weight must have something to do with the problems he'd been having. The boy nodded his head sharply upon figuring this out and went back to setting up his complex, convoluted trap scheme that would hopefully leave Iruka-sensei dazed, bruised, and disoriented. Ripe for the pickings, as it were. His evil cackling was noticed by two people nearby, Iruka-sensei, who shook his head ruefully and made a note to be extra careful in Naruto's area, and a dark-haired boy who was having much more trouble at this than befitted an Uchiha.

Sasuke scowled angrily at the tangled spool of wire that had claimed many of his kunai in its evil grasp. He cursed profusely as he kicked the pile of wires in an attempt to alleviate his frustration. It didn't work, however, as his foot just became hopelessly tangled in the wires and a kunai banged painfully against his toe. His ears peked up and his anger was momentarily forgotten, though, when the sound of... Evil cackling? Really? Reached his ears. Tch, the dobe had probably thought up some crazy trap scheme that would totally take down Iruka-sensei in one hit. Sasuke grumbled darkly as he thought about what to do next. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to succeed today (It would probably take him the whole hour just to untangle the wire), he resigned himself to asking the dobe for - here he shuddered - help. Kuso!

Meanwhile, completely unaware that Sasuke was plotting... plots involving him, Naruto had just put the finishing touches on the first part of his trap scheme: A trip wire painted orange and green, half hidden under a pile of falling leaves, that would trigger a barrage of smoke bombs if stepped on. If not, another wire painted orangeish brown strung at about the height of Iruka-sensei's stomach would trigger a barrage of training kunai. As the man dodged, backwards and sideways, Naruto knew, he would trigger a barrage of smoke bombs that would leave him blind and stumbling, at which point Naruto would manually activate the next trap... He shook himself from his monologue. Suffice it to say, the trap was brilliant. Still... What if Iruka-sensei came from somewhere else? Naruto thought hard before looking at his meager supplies. He sighed. Ah well, better some than nothing!

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The shrill alarm alerted all the students that time was officially up. They hurried back to their meeting place and looked expectantly at Iruka-sensei, who grinned evilly and declared, "Right, since I don't have near enough time to go through and check your work, I'll just let you do that for each other! I'll pair you off, and each pair will go through and inspect each other's work. This will be a test of your trap avoidance skills as much as your trap setting skills!" He began listing names off at random, ending things up with a declaration of, "Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba, you will be partnered. Begin!"

Everyone quickly consulted the map and sped off, Naruto grinning evilly at Kiba and receiving likewise. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that Sakura would be his partner. Her traps would be obvious and she wouldn't deride his attempt like many others would.

Naruto smirked slightly as he carefully scanned the area around him, each step careful and gentle, his bare feet feeling for any trace of wires. His eyes remained sharply on the lookout for any other signs, from a kunai glinting in a tree to the familiar sight of wires hanging in the air. Kiba probably wouldn't have the smarts to disguise them, but you can never be too safe. His eyes narrowed as he spotted a gleam of light from a nearby tree. Looking closer, not even breathing, he made out the shape of a kunai, the wire tied to it passing right in front of where Naruto stood. He eyed it carefully, trying to figure out a safe spot he could disable it from. As he did so, he noticed several more of the tripwires strung throughout the trees. Kiba had gone for area instead of intensity, it seemed, and the wires were spread out enough that it was hard to spot them all, but close enough that someone dodging one would run into another. He smiled slightly, making a mental note to congratulate Kiba later as he pulled out his last kunai, tied his last bit of wire around the ring, and set about disabling the traps.

Kiba, regretfully, was not so lucky. He had stepped on the first trip wire Naruto had set up and stumbled through Naruto's entire chain of traps. The Inuzuka was now covered in bruises and neon orange paint, making him an easy target had any hostiles been in the area. His cursing was heard all over the area, drawing smiles from some students as they set about their tasks. Sakura was one of the students who smiled, albeit somewhat distractedly. She was staring at the pathetic pile in fron of her, trying to figure out what Sasuke-kun was up to, but eventually just gave up and walked away. Sasuke, meanwhile, easily disabled the obvious traps Sakura had left him before sighing and heading back to the meeting area.

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Iruka smiled proudly at his students as they assembled back in the meeting area. For a first attempt, their trap disabling escapades had gone over rather well. With a few exceptions, of course. He smiled inwardly at the sight of a cursing, orange Inuzuka making his way back to the small clearing that had become their meeting area. One by one, other students began trickling in, some proud, some shame-faced, and some just plain angry. Nothing compared to the proud smile on Naruto's face, though, as he ran over and handed Kiba back his gear, congratulating him on excellent work as he did. Kiba just blinked at him before nodding and taking back his equipment. Iruka clapped his hands once, the chakra-enhanced retort drawing everyone's attention, before he smiled and began speaking. "Great work today, everyone! You've all succeeded admirably and I'm proud of you! We finished off a little early, but I'm feeling generous. Take the rest of the day off, kids!" The exclamation drew cheers from everyone as they ran off to enjoy their newfound freedom.

"Naruto-san, stay behind," he added in an undertone. The boy in question looked up in confusion before nodding hesitantly. Once everyone was gone, Iruka sat down in the grass and motioned for Naruto to do the same. Once both were settled, Iruka looked at Naruto seriously and began talking.

"Naruto-san, I get that you'd be excited to show off your newfound skill at taijutsu, I do, but maybe you should keep that under wraps." At Naruto's blank look, Iruka sighed and elaborated. "Have you ever heard the phrase 'Discretion is the Better Part of Valor'? No? Then I'll explain. Sometimes, a ninja may be forced to hide his true abilities in order to use them later against unsuspecting foes." At Naruto's continuing blank stare, he groaned and searched for a fitting metaphor.

"Ano... Iruka-sensei... Do you mean like when I hide a better trap in a bad one?" The interruption startled Iruka, but he nodded fervently. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about! Hide your abilities until you need to use them, and then use only what you need. You want to protect your friends, right?" At Naruto's somewhat hesitant nod, he continued, "Well, it'd be easier to protect them if your enemies aren't expecting the full extent of your abilities, you see?" Naruto's eyes lit up and he nodded enthusiastically. "Hai, Iruka-sensei, I get it perfectly!" he exclaimed excitedly. "good, Naruto," Iruka responded. "You're free to go now."

Naruto nodded distractedly, his brow already furrowed in thought.

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A/N: Well, there you have it! Chapter three is up and I'm fairly proud of it. For the next chapter, I'm thinking of a minor time skip to near the end of graduation, with a flashback or two (little ones, I promise) to explain certain things. Feel free to tell me what you think of it so far, especially if you spot any mistakes. As always, constructive criticism is welcome and flames are... pretty pointless! Next chapter: Naruto, Mizuki, and a talent for traps. Oh my!