RosarioKitsune

by Acolyte of Truth

After defeating Akatsuki, Naruto faces the greastest challenge of his life: teaching gym class at Youkai Academy. Of course, tormenting the students is just a perk that comes with the job. When conflicts arise, only one teacher can put them to rest. Of course, he starts most of them. A continution of CharkieSierra's story of a similar name. NarutoXShizukaXMizore and more!

10. Our Reasons

Holy shit I'm alive! Yeah, sorry for the delay, but there are a lot of reasons for it. For one, I broke my arm last summer in a motorcycle accident, so I wasn't really in a position to type. It was far too annoying. My laptop broke, didn't want to get that fixed, and I sure as hell wasn't using my piece of shit desktop, so there's another reason. Truthfully, I got tired of writing, so even after all that was sorted, I didn't really have a drive to write. Of course, the big reason was college. Applying, and after that, scholarship essays. So, yeah, the universe is conspiring against you all using me as a medium. But are you really surprised. Anyway, onto why you're here.

/

Chapter 10: Our Reasons

/

It had been four days. Four days since Naruto and Mizore had met with Kuyou. Four days since since they discovered the unfortunate truth behind the Student Safety Commission. Three days since the new teacher began his round-up of any student he could find with the aid of his bunshins early in the morning. And it had been just two days since the rumors started going around about how the replacement gym teacher was fighting with the aforementioned student Safety Commission, sparked by sightings of several representatives from the group waiting outside the small office overlooking a hill that, to date, only one student had been stupid enough to try to escape from by jumping through the window and falling down said hill. Of course, the jagged glass in the still broken window and the fake blood Naruto had placed at the bottom of the hill were good deterrents for the students. The fact that they were also wanted by the Kuyou and his hounds and the fact that Naruto was the one who kept them at bay also helped to earn the students' cooperation, as they quickly learned that the blond was the lesser of two evils in this situation, despite his harsh retrieval methods, of which there were also rumors flying around.

"Did you hear about that fight that got broken up this morning?" asked one student to his friend at lunch.

"Oh, you mean that one between that huge senior and the intimidating freshman?"

"Yeah," the original student replied, taking a bite of his lunch before continuing as he chewed. "But get this, a buddy of mine was there, and he said that the freshman was actually winning the fight. He got the senior on the floor and just started laying into him as the senior struggled to get him off."

As he spoke, the student began pantomiming the actions as he described them, unintentionally flinging food out of his mouth in excitement and onto his friend, who was less than appreciative. With a disgusted look on his face, he calmly brushed the saliva and rice off of his person and decided to just keep the conversation going instead of lecturing his overzealous on proper eating habits. "Man, sounds brutal. And I've seen that senior; It's hard to believe anyone could take him down."

"I know, right? Apparently there was blood everywhere, and my buddy says that it looked like the the freshman was actually gonna kill the guy."

At this point, the second student began looking at his friend more speculatively, as he slowly ate his own food. He thought about interjecting momentarily, but decided to let his friend finish before telling him that his 'buddy' was probably full of shit.

"But get this, my buddy says he saw a couple of guys he's never seen before, all dressed in these black uniforms, moving to break up the fight. He thinks they were Student Safety Commission."

"You don't say?" said the student, looking more interested now. He still questioned the veracity of the story, but it was interesting none the less. "You don't really see those guys around often. Or ever, really. Aren't they supposed to be some shadow group or something?"

"I don't know, but I trust my buddy, and I hear a lot more people have started to see them recently."

"Do you now?" asked the speculative student, unable to keep the sarcasm from bleeding into his voice any longer. Despite that, his more energetic friend didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, but here's the best part; you know that new gym teacher, Uzumaki-sensei, right?"

"You mean that brat that's younger than us but still acts like he's superior because he's a teacher."

For the first time the student's friend looked at him as if he was annoyed by what he had said. His rebuttal was simply to say, "Come on, man, he's not that bad. Besides, he makes gym pretty fun."

"I'm not saying he's a bad teacher," said the dissenter, also getting annoyed, "but his attitude is something that pisses me off. And I'm not the only one. There's a bunch of people who think he takes himself way too seriously for his own good."

"Yeah, well it doesn't help when people like you disrespect him like that. He's gotta control his classes, and that's difficult when people like you refuse to give him a chance just because of his age."

At this point, the dissenting student's eyes narrowed dangerously, but instead of acting, he rubbed his temples and released a tired sigh. He was used to these kinds of arguments with his friend, and didn't really see need to get so worked up about it. "Whatever man," he said, calmed down.

"You're just mad you got nailed with a wrench that first day and got knocked out." It seemed his friend was determined to get one last jab in, though, earning a glare as he leaned back from his hunched over position and took a drink of water.

"Just get on with your stupid story," the student said, almost yelling in annoyance and causing his friend to lean forward again in excitement as he remembered what he was saying prior to their argument. Before he began again, though, he couldn't help but smile as he heard his friend mumble about how he was getting tired of dodgeball.

"Anyway, Uzumaki-sensei shows up, appearing from fucking nowhere, and before anyone knows what's going on, he buries his knee in the freshman's face. Now, my buddy's a good twenty feet back, surrounded by a bunch of other people all chatting about the whole event up until then, and he swears he can clearly hear the crunch of the guy's nose breaking, and there's blood everywhere as he goes flying and lands on his back and begins rolling around in pain, clutching at his face and everything. And then as this is going on, the senior, get's up. Now mind you, this guy's nearly a foot taller than Uzumaki-sensei, and as he stands, he's just blindly swinging, not knowing Uzumaki-sensei is the guy in front of him with his back turned. Before he can even touch him, Uzumaki-sensei spins around and kicks him in the fucking head, and that guy just goes down\, and a bunch of people think he might be dead. Anyway, Uzumaki-sensei just picks the guy up, throws him over his shoulder, then marches over to the freshman, picks him up by the collar, then makes him walk all the way to his office."

"Uh-huh," said the speculative friend, having finished his lunch and moved to prop up his head on one of his hands. "And what happened to the Student Safety Commission?"

"That's just it, when my buddy looks back around, they're just gone." It was obvious that the student was still excited about all of this, as evidence by how his eyes seemed to glimmer with joy and the big smile on his face. Still smiling, he moved quickly to finish his lunch.

His friend wasn't as easily pleased, though, as he sighed and began to try to dissuade his friend from believing all of this. "Okay, let's assume everything you were told happened, that Uzumaki-sensei broke up that fight and, presumably, brought them back to his office like I know you think he did because he's on a power kick or whatever. He was in class after that. There's no fucking way he'd leave two guys like that alone after they nearly killed each other unless he's the biggest dumbass in the world. Also, I've seen that office from the outside, and there's no way he'd be able to keep those two far apart enough so that they didn't start fighting again. Now, I'm not saying that what you were told didn't happen, but what you think happened after that didn't."

As the student finished his explanation, his friend had finished his lunch and they both got up from the table, his friend letting out a dejected sigh. "Yeah, you're probably right. Still, I wish I could've been there to see that fight."

"Yeah, that sounded badass," was his friend's plain reply. As the two walked off, their conversation apparently over, a new one was starting a couple of tables away based on what the group seated there had overheard.

"Do you think that's true?" asked Yukari, trying to contain her own excitement. While it was true that she was mature for her age, she still found stories like the one she had just heard immensely entertaining and revered it with a child-like wonder. That was doubly true when said story was about someone she admired. In the words of the two that had just left, she thought it sounded badass.

Seeing Yukari in her current state put smiles on the faces of the others, but they found their own joy to be tinged with something akin anxiety. They had known Naruto barely longer than Yukari had, but they still found their own need to be worried for the young teacher after hearing that story. Still, they all did their best to hide their true feelings both from Yukari and each other and instead attempted to go along with the good mood propagated by the young witch.

"What they said is probably true," said Tsukune, chuckling a bit to hide his unease. Being a human surrounded largely by those who would see him as little more than a nice meal still hadn't escaped his mind completely, and left him with a permanent feeling of anxiety, but hearing about Naruto's recent exploits didn't help. He viewed the blond favorably and had been helped more than once by him, plus he was friendly enough, perhaps more so than a teacher should be with a student, and maybe that contributed to the trepidation Tsukune felt around Naruto. Then there was the fact the Naruto had also shown to be a shockingly violent individual. The first time he saw him he effortlessly broke Saizou's collar bone, and that was just for not answering a question. He broke the other arm defending him and Moka the first time. Then with this recent fight he broke one student's nose and flatout knocked the other one out. It all painted a worrisome picture when Tsukune took into account that they had all broken some rule except for that initial instance, and that Naruto was apparently now on the hunt for anyone breaking the rules if the rumors were anything to go by. What worried the boy was that he was human, which was against the rules, and he feared what Naruto would do if he found out.

"I'm not sure about the whole office thing, though. You're the only one of us that's been there, right, Kurumu-chan? Is it really that small that those two students wouldn't be able to be kept far enough apart?" Moka was the next to voice her thoughts, and her worries stemmed largely from the same source as Tsukune's. She knew he was human, but no one else did. She saw Naruto as a friend, but his intolerance instilled fear in her with regard to Tsukune. Besides that, though, she didn't think that he should be treating any student like that in the first place, and that it reflected poorly on him.

Kurumu sighed when faced with Moka's inquiry, reliving her experience in that office. "It was pretty cramped, and it was also freezing because some idiot broke the window. But besides that, I found that I couldn't move; he just kept staring at me, his arms crossed, almost as if daring me to make a move to escape. I don't even think he blinked that whole time." Kurumu's anxiety came more from the fact that things seemed to be getting more unstable. Originally, Naruto was simply an obstacle to her, but in the following weeks, she saw him as someone who wanted to make the school a better place to fulfill the mission of integrating them all into human society, and that he had maybe become too close to them. Now, though, it seemed that he was becoming more proactive in his little vision for the school, and it was ticking some of the more volatile troublemakers off from what she had heard in passing. Then, there were the rumors she had heard from the girls in her homeroom. They all involved the new gym teacher intervening in something and sightings of people in black clothing who just seemed to appear and disappear. This new, rouge element was apparently the Student Safety Commission, and the fact that they were seemingly interested in Naruto and his actions made her uneasy. Thus, knowing that Mizore probably knew him best, Kurumu turned to her and asked, "Say, those guys mentioned something about the Student Safety Commission. You don't think he did something to annoy them, do you?"

Of course, the subject of Kurumu's question is what had Mizore on edge. The meeting she and Naruto had had with this Student Safety Commission was still clear in her mind, nut how could it not be? She'd never seen Naruto so angry, and that in itself scared her, because she knew he would act and that Kuyou would respond. She felt that Naruto would win the war that would ultimately take place, and she shared a similar mindset with him, understood why he needed to act, but she didn't know how much of himself he would have to give to obtain his victory, nor if he would ever truly recover from what the Student Safety Commission may or may nor have in store.

Though, from what the girl was able to piece together, Naruto had won the few initial skirmishes for students, but did he even know that Kuyou had people out trying to get the students? Were they even really competing as of yet, or were they just watching him? The possibilities disturbed Mizore deeply, but she didn't let it show. In regards to Kurumu's question, they didn't know that she had actually met the head of the Student Safety Commission, and though she felt bad lying straight to the others, she also felt that they didn't exactly need to know what had happened, either. If Naruto wanted to tell them, that was fine, she would just have to ask him to omit her involvement so they didn't find out. It also gave her an excuse to talk to him. She also had yet to tell them about what Naruto had said about leaving, but she just needed to find the right time for that. She decided that she would fulfill that promise by the end of the week and get it over with. But, back to the issue, Mizore just answered with, "I haven't heard anything from him, and I hate assuming he did something, but if he did, I doubt it was unwarranted."

"Yeah," replied Yukari with a good-natured grin on her face, clearly not plagued by any of the worries the others had. "I haven't heard much about the Student Safety Commission, but everything I have isn't good. I wouldn't be surprised if Naruto-sensei confronted them with this and that they're just throwing a hissy-fit."

This was met with general agreement, but the young witch detected the half-heartedness the compliance came with, causing her to drop her smile and view them all through narrowed eyes. She could sense that they were all preoccupied with other thoughts, and correctly deduced that they had some form of doubt regarding Naruto and the current situation.

"Come on guys, you just need to have more faith in Naruto-sensei!"

The comment caught everyone else off guard, allowing Yukari to continue with their full attention focused on her.

"He'll know what to do, and he won't let the Student Safety Commission get away with whatever he disagrees with. If you're worried about the outcome, then we'll just have to help him, won't we?"

Again, Yukari smiled, hoping to put everyone at ease, and it seemed to work, as they all visibly relaxed, though she knew they still had their doubts. Luckily Tsukune spoke up next to back her.

"You're right," he said, exhaling a sigh that contained much of his tension regarding the whole situation. "Before we get all worked up about this, we need to find out what the situation is, or if one even exists. After classes, we should go to Naruto-sensei's office and try to find out what's going on. Agreed?"

Everyone gave their consent, though Mizore made a note to herself to try and find Naruto before that and ask to be omitted from whatever story he may tell the others. As they got up and went their separate ways back to class, the girl decided now would be the best time to do that.

/

Naruto was exhausted. For three days, he had maintained a contingent of bunshins around the school grounds. There were the ones he had patrolling to keep an eye out for any disturbances, and he just dispelled these and rushed to their locations to put down and trouble personally. There was the one he kept in the gym to oversee classes that he dispelled at the end of the day. One was kept in his office to guard the students he kept there both from each other and the Student Safety Commission, and he only dispelled that one when he got too tired from patrolling personally and needed to take a quick rest. So between the compounded memories of bunshins, his own physical exertion, and bad sleeping habits, Naruto's exhaustion was both physical and mental.

Of course, if he could find a way to not be in so many places at once, he would, because he was sure his presence in multiple places at once was raising some questions, if not among the student body at large and staff, then among the Student Safety Commission, the members of which would undoubtedly inform Kuyou. Then again, with his current state of mind, Naruto didn't really care about that.

As the blond walked down the concourse to meet with Shizuka (a meeting he was unaware he was running late to), oblivious to the confused stares of students who could have sworn they just saw him not thirty seconds ago in the gym, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed. As much as wanted to attribute it to his tired state, his training wouldn't let him, especially because he had the feeling for the full three days. This thought in mind, Naruto stretched and tried to stifle a yawn as he entered a more open area.

He almost didn't notice the person in front of him calling his name until he nearly ran into them. Through bleary eyes, he recognized the person's long purple hair and cute face. "Shirayuki-chan?" he asked tiredly, then, as an afterthought, "Have you been following me?" despite the fact that the girl had approached him from the front.

"Uzumaki-sensei," the girl replied, ignoring the question in favor of inquiring how the young teacher was doing after seeing his ragged appearance.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine," he said, clearly not giving his full attention to the girl as his eyes darted around the area that, to anyone else that would have been there, was void of anyone sans the two of them (and the nonexistent spectator). But to Naruto, he still had this irritating feeling at the back of his head that told him that he was being watched. Again, he stifled a yawn as he turned back towards Mizore as she stared speaking again.

To the girl, it was clear that the blond was not doing fine and voiced her opinion. "Fine? Last I checked, barely being able to stand isn't what constitutes as 'fine'. And look at those bags under your eyes," Mizore said, getting closer to examine him.

As she brought up the sign of his sleep deprivation, Naruto self-consciously reached up to touch under his eye, but his hand was pushed away as she leaned in closer. His attention was now focused solely on her as she continued fussing over him.

"Your eyes are completely blood-shot, and you look so pale. Earlier in class, your aim was off, too. You nearly hit a bunch of students that weren't out. It's obvious that you aren't getting any sleep. Just how long have you been up?"

"It's only been nine hours," he replied, not entirely lying. He took a thirty minute nap at about three in the morning, but by then his last nap had been twenty hours ago. It was clear by Mizore's expression that she didn't believe him, but her features quickly softened as she expressed her concern.

"How long do you plan to do this for? You're spreading yourself thin as it is watching over the students that you take in, but then you have classes, and undoubtedly you're out all night on the lookout for any trouble, and it's great that you want to stand up against the Student Safety Commission, but how is what you're doing going to stop them. If they really wanted to get into a fight of detaining students they clearly have the numbers to beat you. Right now they're just letting you run yourself into the ground to prove to you how pointless it is so you'll give up."

By this point the distance between the two had closed even more, and Mizore had grasped his arms to keep Naruto's attention on her and keep him from running away. The blond could now clearly see the worry in the girl's deep blue eyes, as well as hear it carried in her voice. He was unable to match her gaze and looked away, knowing she was right.

"But what else can I do? As a teacher, I need to protect all of my students, no matter what the cost to me is. You understand that, don't you?"

At this point he brought his head back up, determination burning in his eyes.

"I know that this isn't going to stop Kuyou, but that's not the point of it. I'm sending a message, saying that I'm not going to let him lay a finger on another student. I just need to wait for them to make a move that oversteps their boundaries, then I can put a stop to them."

"But they can outlast you," Mizore tried to plead, now fully embracing Naruto with head resting on his chest. She didn't mean to be so forward, especially after what he had told her last time, but the girl found herself caught up in the moment, and didn't fully realize what she was doing. Besides that, she still harbored feelings for him.

With her ear up against his chest, Mizore could also hear Naruto's heartbeat, thumping erratically in his chest, not from their proximity, but from the stress for staying up for as long as he had. It made her blush, regardless. As for the blond, had he been in a normal state of mind, he would have tried to push the girl away, especially because they were out in the open. However, it was clear that there was no one around, despite what his nagging feeling was telling him. In any event, he wasn't thinking straight, either, and didn't have the forethought at the moment to realize it would be really bad if someone were to catch them like this. Instead, he ignored his commonsense, freed his arms, and draped them around Mizore, causing her face to become even redder.

Looking up, she said, "I'm worried about you." Unconsciously, both of them brought their faces closer together, until they could feel the others breath strongly on their lips. A few more millimeters, and they would be kissing. However, it was Mizore, not Naruto, that realized what was happening and hesitated, before slowly pulling away. Looking back at him, she saw a slightly confused look on his face, before she released him and stepped further back, allowing him arms to drop back down limply and swing a little. Mizore could see that Naruto didn't fully understand the situation, and despite what she may have wanted, couldn't bring herself to take advantage of his altered state of consciousness.

Not entirely sure what had just transpired, Naruto still had enough sense to see that Mizore was looking a bit conflicted, and assumed it had something to due with what she was saying prior. "I'm sorry," he said, drawing her attention back to him, "but I can't stop now. I need to keep going for now, just need to hold out a little longer, and I know they'll try something that I can bring to the Chairman."

Mizore just shook her head, both at his stubbornness and in surprise at just how far gone he was at the moment. Both made her realize that arguing with him was pointless. It didn't make her bitter, though. Instead, she held her head up and said, "I can't stop you from doing what you think is right, but just remember, you have people who are willing to help and give you support if you need it."

At hearing this, Naruto put on a goofy grin, and Mizore wondered why he could apparently process this but not their intimate. Was he testing her? Had she passed? With thoughts like this in mind, the girl began to walk away before remembering what she had found Naruto for in the first place and turning back around to find him still standing there with the same grin on his face. Idly, she wondered if he actually did understand anything she had said in the last five minutes.

"Before I forget, we plan to visit you after classes to ask you how you're doing and what's going on with the Student Safety Commission. Could you not mention my involvement when we ask?"

Naruto still had the brainpower to assume why she might want that, and really didn't have a problem with it, though a visit to his office might be a bit troublesome all things considered. Still, he gave Mizore a thumbs-up and said, "No problem," prompting her to smile and bow in appreciation before walking off. Somehow, he also had the brainpower to wonder why she wasn't in class at the moment and who her teacher was, and if they would give her a pass this on the issue time.

And it was had this moment, as Mizore walked fully out of view, that Naruto realized he missed his his meeting with Shizuka and began panicking. Or he would have, had he possessed the competence to realize that he left a person he saw as a good friend waiting up with no explanation as to his absence and may very well be worried for his safety. He did not, however, currently possess this level of competence, and, as it was, a strange look came to his face that appeared to be a mixture of confusion, apathy, and fatigue as he just stood in the middle of the path.

The sound of someone calling his name caused the blond to look over his shoulder and slowly turn to face Shizuka as she approached him. "Shizuka-chan?" he asked, almost as if to confirm it was her, then, "Have you been following me?"

"What?" the teacher replied, tilting her head in confusion. "No, I came to find you after you didn't show up for lunch."

"Oh," Naruto said, his face temporarily lighting up as if he had forgotten about the meeting in the two seconds since his friend had shown up. It quickly became more listless as the conversation continued.

"At first, I thought you were just out throwing yourself at the Student Safety Commission after hearing all the rumors," Shizuka's face took on a concerned for her friend as she said this, but quickly reverted to her characteristic cheerful expression as she continued, "but then I saw you talking to one of your students, so I guess you were just giving her some advice, so I hung back for a bit. But the strange thing is, I've never seen her before. Is she a second year?

"Shirayuki-chan?" Naruto asked, slowly becoming more animated and engaged in the conversation as Shizuka stimulated him. "No, I'm pretty sure she's a freshman."

"Shirayuki? The name sounds familiar, but I'm sure I would have remembered the girl." As Shizuka said this, she brought her hand up to her chin in a thoughtful expression. It was then that Naruto realized something, causing him to raise an eyebrow as he regarded his friend.

"Hey, why aren't you in class, Shizuka-chan?"

"Hm? I have a free period at this time, remember?" the bespectacled teacher's expression once again became concerned. "What about you? I know you have a class. Surely you didn't leave them to take care of that Shirayuki-san?"

"No, I just haven't been teaching today," Naruto thoughtlessly blurted out, causing Shizuka to reel back in shock at the confession. He then added, "Or at all, this week." The cat-like woman was about to berate Naruto on how he needed to be more respectable and be there for his classes. Before she could, however, Naruto cut back in, realizing that what he said wasn't a sufficient explanation and needed some elaboration. "Oh, but don't worry, I have clones watching over the class."

Naruto did not, in fact, currently have a clone watching over his class, having forgotten that he had it dispel half-way through the day. As it were, his last few classes that day would stay lined up, confused, but too afraid to move, thinking their teacher may be hiding and just waiting for one of them to get out of order to make an example.

Shizuka was a bit surprised at the revelation that Naruto could make copies of himself, but quickly remembered what his previous vocation was and instead returned to her happy state. "Well, as long as you have it taken care of, that's good, but you probably should be watching over them personally. As a teacher, you owe your students that much.

"If you say so, Shizuka-chan," the blond replied, yawning once more.

"However, I suppose that's not important now. What I really want to talk to you about is your current activities." Naruto noticed his friend become much more serious than her usual self, and knew this conversation was headed down a recently traveled road.

"You mean me fighting with the Student Safety Commission?"

"Wait, you mean you're actually fighting with them?!" Shizuka almost screamed with shock as she regarded her friend with disapproval. "I was just going to comment on you staying out too late to watch over the community here! I didn't think it would be because you went and did something stupid like that!"

"Ah, Shizuka-chan," Naruto whined, but Shizuka cut him off.

"No, Naruto-chan, I don't think you fully understand what you've done," the severity of Shizuka's tone actually managed to shock Naruto in his current state and brought him back into focus for a bit. "I heard from the Chairman that you went to meet with the Student Safety Commission," she admitted, her voice becoming quiet. "I can only imagine what you saw, and for that, I blame myself. I should have just told you about them when I asked."

"It's no-..." Naruto tried to say, but he was cut off as Shizuka put a finger to his lips to silence him. Normally, this would have embarrassed both of them, but the atmosphere stifled any sense of intimacy this act carried.

"Please, Naruto-chan, let me finish. The reason I chose not to tell you anything was in a vain attempt to keep you as far away from them as possible. They have the resources to not only make trouble for anyone who challenges their authority, but truly the whole student body, and I knew that if I told you anything, you would be unsatisfied with what I had to say and seek out more information, and that you would come to disagree with their methods and feel the need to take action. By not telling you, I suppose I just allowed you to introduce yourself to the current leader of the Commission."

Naruto could tell that more information was coming, but, judging from the hanging silence, not without his input. So, putting a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder, he said, "Don't blame yourself. Like you said, I would have found out one way or another, and I would have taken action. As for everyone being affected by this, I'm afraid they're just going to have to deal with it. Kuyou is corrupt, and I can't just sit around and do nothing as he acts as judge, jury, and executioner against potentially innocent students without any real evidence or anyone to challenge him. Besides, if they get too out of hand, the Chairman will have to act."

Naruto punctuates his statement with a reassuring smile, but this quickly fell as he noticed Shizuka's small, bitter smile. "You're right, the chairman will eventually act if this escalates, but I'm afraid he'll be forced to side with the Student Safety Commission over you."

At hearing that, the blond looked at Shizuka feeling deeply betrayed at her words, but at seeing the sadness in her eyes, he decided to let her finish.

"The Commission's leash is long enough that it might as well be nonexistent, and they are well aware of their boundaries. They wouldn't have to get anywhere close to the edge in order for you to act and appear as the extremist that forced them to act. Besides that, the Chairman sees them as a necessary evil that, for all their faults, do work to improve student life by keeping those who would cause trouble away from the students who really do believe in the spirit of this school, or at least aren't against it. As for you, you're just a temporary replacement."

Hearing what Shizuka thought still hurt, but in the end, Naruto couldn't disagree with anything Shizuka said. Gritting his teeth and balling his fists in annoyance at the helplessness of it all, the blond voiced his thoughts. "Then I guess I'll just have to convince the Chairman otherwise. I'm sorry,but I just can't allow the Student Safety Commission to go on. I need to end them."

With that, Naruto turned on his heel and prepared to march off, feeling very conflicted about everything that had just happened. Before he could get anywhere, however, he felt Shizuka grab his arm and halt his progress.

"Let go," he said in a low voice.

"Naruto-chan, please lis-..." Shizuka was cut off as Naruto violently turned around, throwing her back a little and causing her to stumble and fall to the ground.

"I said let go!" he yelled, scaring her. She could see the rage in his usually cheerful blue eyes, and she knew that her words were the cause for this change in her friend. This hurt her more than any strike could, and, try as she might, she couldn't stop the tears as they leaked out of the corners of her eyes and ran down her cheeks, nor could she hold I the sobs that shook her body.

Now, Naruto's actions were in part due to his own feelings of betrayal at Shizuka's words, but they were more so a result of a short temper caused by his fatigue. Seeing Shizuka's current state was a very sobering experience, and he quickly turned that anger on himself as he realized just what he had done. He would commit this image to memory and would never forget it, but that was for later. His features quickly softened, guilt taking anger's place, and, unable to say anything, he quickly rushed over to Shizuka's side and fell to his knees on front of her. Then, raising her chin so that she could look into his eyes and see that he was sorry for what he had done, he wrapped her in a warm embrace to show that he meant it and to calm her down. The last thing he wanted was for their friendship to end.

After a few minutes of sitting there, Shizuka finally managed to calm down, but neither one moved, to preoccupied with thinking of what they could have done differently to prevent what had happened. Eventually, Naruto remembered how to talk and, picking Shizuka back up to her feet, said, come on, let's find somewhere else to continue this."

/

The two found a more isolated location where they could continue their conversation. As they walked, Naruto brought up the issue that she was bound to miss her next class if they continued on. Shizuka reassured him that it was fine, and that she had left the students' assignment on the board. They remained silent after that until Naruto brought them back to what had just happened.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, but since everything around the two of them was so quiet, the words sounded unbelievably loud to Shizuka. "I shouldn't have been so violent with you. I mean, you're my friend, and I'm stupid to do anything to ruin that."

"No, I'm partly to blame as well," Shizuka said causing Naruto to cast a sideways glance at her as they walked together. "I can only imagine how stressed you are, it's clear you haven't gotten a good sleep in a long time, and my agitating you by telling you what you can't do didn't help." Here, Shizuka let out a nervous laugh as she scratched the back of her head. "And I kind of over-reacted when I fell."

It was Naruto's turn to laugh the incident off as he said, "Yeah, that really scared me. I thought I had really messed up back there."

Things lulled back into silence as the two walked on before Shizuka spoke again.

"Look, I hate to poke at wounds so quickly, but as your friend, I'm saying that that Student Safety Commission can't be disbanded; it's not because you lack ability, or because the Chairman will side with them, but because, for all their faults, they serve an important purpose."

Seeing that Naruto wasn't arguing yet, she continued.

"I wouldn't say any of thus if I didn't think it was important, but you need to understand, you weren't here before the Commission was formed. You don't know what it would be like without them."

Naruto could tell that some information was being held from him, but instead of asking directly, he decided to phrase his inquiry in the form of a off-handed comment. "I still don't see why you insist on protecting them so much. Surely they can't be that important."

Suddenly, Shizuka just stopped walking without Naruto noticing, causing him to carry on a few steps before turning around to look back at his companion questioningly. "Naruto-chan, what I'm about to tell you may make everything I've said up until this point seem biased, but I just need you to listen to everything I have to say."

"What is it?"

"It may not come to a shock to you to learn that I was an alumni here. You see, the Student Safety Commission was established relatively recently, about halfway through my freshman year, in fact. The time before that was horrible, though. Some students just wouldn't show up to class one day, and then you'd find out they were killed, and no one knew who did it. Very rarely did anyone find out who had killed someone, and it was even rarer that action was taken. And the victims, more often than not, they were nice people, just trying to do their best, and sure, occasionally it was the troublemakers that turned up dead, but they still didn't really deserve it. Everyday you wondered who would disappear next, that maybe it would be you."

As she talked, Naruto couldn't help but notice that the tufts of hair on Shizuka's head continually dooped down as she recalled how hellish life seemed back when she was a student. Suddenly, they perked back up as she came to a better memory.

"I hated it, and I just so happened to find a charismatic second-year who happened to share my thoughts. But more than that, he had a plan to make things better. With his help, it wasn't hard to find people with similar thoughts."

Shizuka trailed off here, leaving Naruto to put together what he was saying. His mental process may have been slugish, but the blond was still able to connect the dots with relative ease. And the conclusion he came to shocked him.

"Wait, are you saying tha-...!"

"Yes, I was a founding member of the Student Safety Commission."

Shizuka's face was uncharacteristically serious, and Naruto could tell she wasn't lying. The information sent him reeling, but before he could push Shizuka for answers, she began talking of her own accord.

"You need to understand, the original Commission was different than the one that currently exists, but it was perhaps too lenient, and that lead to it being viewed by some as ineffective compared to what we could be. Still, the changes we made for the school were clear, and everyone was appreciative of it. Well, most people were, at least. Real changes started taking place my senior year, when I was meant to be made head of the Commission."

/Some Years Ago/

Back then, we were more of a club then a a group that was outside the direct control of the school. We still had to go to class, but some of us would get out of it where we could and keep an eye out for any trouble, knowing full well that if we got caught up in anything, it may very well end horribly for those involved. But that never really stopped us, because we knew we were doing good work protecting the student body.

Admittedly, we weren't so clean back then, either. As I said, we would sometimes skip class, and, if necessity dictated, we would drop our human forms to apprehend the more aggressive perpetrators. I recall getting hospitalized for injuries more than once. After we subdued them, we would bring them before the Chairman and he would dictate a punishment that he trusted us to oversee. Very rarely did he ever take matters into his own hands. I only remember him doing that twice.

That's besides the point, though. Anyway, I must have been the third week of the first term during my senior year. By then, the founder had graduated, but our group had grown, as had our reputation. It was almost as if we had our own little militia. But, lacking our leader, most of them members flocked behind me. By far I knew out old leader the best, and everyone trusted me and believed I would lead the group in the right direction.

Well, not everyone. The previous year, a promising freshman had joined, along with one of his friends. Regrettably, that friend was horribly maimed and left in front of our base the same year they joined. It was clearly a warning, the perpetrator knew that they were a member of a group, and wanted us to see what they would do if we came too close to them. If anything, it just caused us to dedicate ourselves more to our work, but we never did figure out who had attacked and disabled that member, and his friend wasn't the same after that.

Well, as I said, it was the third week of the year, and me and a few other members had returned to the club late that day. We were at the door, and we heard a commotion behind the door. We just assumed that some of the new members were annoyed by the work we did, but when we entered, we saw another senior tied to a chair, and that junior savagely beating him, with members old and new lining the edges of the room, watching with either complete apathy or some form of sick joy.

We were all horrified, and rushed into the room. I demanded to know what he was doing, and do you know what he said? "I'm handling a situation. This is the guy who mauled my friend last year. I figure I'm just getting some back pay after all this time on top of his punishment."

I could see that the person tied to the chair was broken, and with the dried blood on his clothes, and how deep the gashes in the junior's knuckles were, I could only imagine how long he had been allowed to go it. I responded by saying we didn't get to decide the rules, and that we could only do what the Chairman gave us permission to do. I asked him how he knew that this was the guy who had done it.

"How? He admitted to it when he jumped me and tried to do the same thing. He needs to be taught that we aren't to be messed with. We need to convey that we demand respect."

He punctuated this with another blow to the restrained students already mangled jaw. I stepped forward to try and stop him, but was held back by another member.

"And who are you to lecture me about rules? With how much you've relaxed the rules for us, they might as well not apply to us. I went to class for the first time yesterday. Nobody questioned it, because they knew I was part of this. We are far above the average student. We don't need to play by their rules."

I still tried to argue that we didn't get to decide that, and eventually managed to convince him to release the student. He was still restrained, and as he and a few other began dragging him out the door, I demanded to know where they were going.

"I talked it over with the Chairman. You know those old dungeons on campus? He gave us permission to use a few of them from now on. This piece of trash isn't going to see the sunlight for a long time."

I was shocked he had gotten the Chairman to agree to such a thing. More than that, I was angered he had gone behind my back like that. Before he left, he said one last thing to me.

"Time's are changing, Nekonome-senpai. We've built up a reputation, but people see us as more of a club than an organization that deserves to be feared. I've already talked it over with the Chairman and most of the members here, and we've come to a consensus; we need to change our image and our practices to better keep rouge elements in check, and all punishment options from now on have been deferred to us so we can better keep the peace. With that said, we feel that you are too soft, and are to be removed form active command at once. If you don't like it,you might as well just leave."

He left after that, and I was finally released, but I couldn't talk to the other members. They refused to defend me and the beliefs we had agreed on. They had abandoned me. So I went to talk with the Chairman, and found out that he agreed with everything that junior had said. I couldn't convince him to change his mind. Me and a few other members just left the group we had helped establish after that, and they just kept on rolling, establishing stricter requirements for membership, instituting harsher punishments, and becoming more of an urban legend whose existence started to be debated.

And as much as I hate to admit it, they were more effective after that then we ever were.

/

"So I hope now you can see why it wouldn't only be difficult to fight the Student Safety Commission, but also see that things may not turn out better. As much as I hate what they've become, I wonder that if they went back to how they used to be, would things get worse for the school?"

Naruto was silent as Shizuka spoke, and she assumed it was because he was pondering what she had said, that she had somehow gotten through to him. His words broke any illusions she had of that.

"Shizuka-chan, you put so much effort into creating that organization, only to have it stolen from you. I can only imagine what that must have been like for you, to feel abandoned like that. But as your friend, I can't help but think you just gave up after that."

The conviction that carried through his voice and the confidence that shone in his eyes sent a tingle through the woman's spine. She couldn't argue with him in her current state.

"I'm going to prove to you that we don't need the current Student Safety Commission, and that your way of running it was better. You can't convince me not to take action, but you have shown me that there may still be some good in them."

Shizuka didn't quite know how to reply to that. Had she given in too easily just because she felt betrayed? Could she have done more, especially now that she was a teacher? Naruto was actively working against the Student Safety Commission, so why hadn't she? Was she afraid? No, it wasn't fear, she realized, it was disgust. She couldn't stand to face what she had allowed her organization to become. Instead, she chose to distance herself as much as possible from the group. Maybe if she had watched over the members better, she could have prevented this.

"Well, at least I could do that much," Shizuka said, putting on an appreciative smile. "And you know, maybe you're right. Maybe I just couldn't face them after that, and just told myself nothing could be done. I'm not going to try to convince you to stop anymore, because I know if someone can change the way things work around here, it's you."

And with that, Shizuka closed the distance between the two of them and wrapped the blond in her arms, conveying her appreciation for his words through her touch. For his part, Naruto reciprocated, though hesitantly. He didn't understand why everyone wanted to seemingly have the same conversation with him and it always ended in them hugging. Was this going to happen when Tsukune and the others visited? Or was it because Shizuka was like Mizore?

"You're a strong woman, Shizuka-chan," Naruto finally said, causing the woman's heart to race a bit. "But even the strongest of us go astray, and need to be steadied by someone who has our best interests in mind. You just can' forget who you are or what you believe in."

"Oh, Naru- tmphh!" Before Shizuka was able to get out what she wanted to say, she found her mouth covered with Naruto's much to her utter shock. Her ear tufts stood straight up, and her surprise was so great that her disguise dropped enough that her tail popper out and went as rigid as her spine.

As for Naruto, the thought process that lead him to do that looked a bit like this: Mizore liked him, and wasn't afraid to show her affection with physical contact. Shizuka also wasn't a stranger to physical contact with him, and they had a good relationship, so she liked him in the same way Mizore did, she just didn't act on it. However, whereas Naruto felt that he couldn't return Mizore's feelings both because she was his student and she would be heart-broken when he eventually left, he and Shizuka were colleagues, and she knew what she was getting into by starting a relationship with him, and was mature enough to handle his departure. Hell, she may even be able to go with him if she wanted.

Since she wasn't resisting, Naruto assumed that she was okay with it and that he was right. He soon broke off the kiss and stepped back, only to see Shizuka still frozen in place, her face so red that he was convinced that all her blood was currently circulating in that one area. The blond tilted hiss head in confusion, and Shizuka finally snapped out of it.

"Wh-wh-what was that, Naruto-chan?!" she asked, completely embarrassed.

"Did I do something wrong?" he countered, completely clueless, and making Shizuka feel as if she was being backed into a corner.

"N-no, that's not it, I was just surprised," was the answer she gave, averting her eyes. Frankly, she was feeling conflicted. She had found herself becoming more fond of her blond friend as of late, and the only reason she hadn't told him was because she thought it would be off-putting to him and would ruin what they had. She was ecstatic to find out he harbored some of the same feelings for her, but knew that however much they enjoyed this relationship, it wouldn't be able to last. Then again, wouldn't she rather regret doing something than regret not taking action, just like years before? "In fact, I'm really happy," she continued, the heat from her face fogging up her glasses a bit. "But let's keep this secret okay? I don't want my students finding out."

"No problem," was Naruto's cool reply, glad to see that he was right about everything.

"Anyway, if you ever need a hand with the Student Safety Commission, come find me. I think it's time they realize just how poor their methods are."

"No problem," the blond said, giving off a big smile. They stood their with an awkward silence between them before Shizuka said her parting words.

"Well, I guess I should go back to class now. I can probably make it before the last class leaves. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya," Naruto said as she walked away. His office was in the other direction, so he guessed he should go tidy up a bit and clear the Student Safety Commission from his doorstep before his students visited.

/

When Naruto got there, he was surprised to see only one lackey form the Student Safety Commission standing around outside. Even more surprising, it was one he recognized; it was one of the guards he saw stationed outside the Commission's base.

Even though he wasn't trying to be particularly sneaky, Naruto still deviated from the path and went up the side, approaching the kid from the right and still managing to get within five feet of him without him noticing. Unable to help himself, the blond blew right into the kid's ear, causing him to yelp and jump in shock before turning to face him.

"What the hell?!" he shouted, causing Naruto to suppress a chuckle, though his grin showed clearly on his face. It was then that the boy seemed to recognize him, and then confusedly looked at the building right next to him. "How did you...?" he trailed off, before opening the door. At that moment, Naruto dispelled the clone he had watching the students he had detained. When the boy peeked into the office, he only saw the surprised faces of several students looking to the front of the room, when the blond would normally be seated.

"I snuck out the window," Naruto said off-offhandedly, drawing the boy's attention back to him. His wide and slightly frightened green eyes made the blond's smile grew a bit bigger. "So, what happened to the hoards of you that are usually out here? They decide to take a break?"

"What are you talking about?" the boy asked, now more confused than anything. "I've been the only one out here all day. You came out before to tell me to stop leaning on the door."

"So I did," Naruto replied, finding that this kid was a bit different than he thought he was. "Say you're name was Rook, wasn't it?"

"Wh-what?" 'Rook' said, even more surprised than he was. The shock quickly turned to joy. "You actually remembered? That's great, eh, I mean, no, that's just what Naoki-senpai calls me. He's a bit dyslexic. My actual name is Koizumi Ryou (1). Oh, but, that's not important. I, uh, shouldn't be talking to you."

"It's fine, isn't it?" Naruto tried to argue, actually starting to like this Ryou person. In truth, he reminded the blond a bit of his younger self, loving any sort of recognition he got. If he had to guess, that may have been the reason Ryou joined the Student Safety Commission in the first place. He decided to ask. "So, Koizumi-san, why join an organization like the Student Safety Commission?"

"Just calling me Ryou is fine."

"Okay, Ryou-chan," Naruto replied, causing the boy to give him a funny look, most likely not sure how to deal with the teacher's eccentricity.

"Yeah, well then, I guess I joined so that I could work my way up to the top of the organization. You see, before Kuyou-senpai, my older brother was the head of the organization, so I'm trying to follow in his footsteps. Of course, they don't really care about lineage or anything like that, which I like, it means I have to work for the position, but they have me on constant guard duty to prove myself. It's a real pain."

"Yeah, you're not that good at it," Naruto said, causing Ryou to sigh in agreement. Almost as an afterthought, Naruto added, "No offense."

"Don't worry about it."

"Then what about your friend, Naoki-san, was it? Why is he your retainer or mentor or whatever you call it. I mean, he doesn't seem to enjoy it. And where is he?"

"Naoki-senpai? Apparently he's on probation, and training me is his punishment. I don't know why, because no one seems to talk about it, but he used to be a really high ranking member. You know that scar on the side of his face? I think that had something to do with it. He always touches it whenever I ask him about the incident. As for where he is..."

"He's right here," said a voice, seemingly out of nowhere, causing both Naruto and Ryou to jump a bit. Turning they found Naoki standing right next to them. Naruto noticed a contingent of other members from the Student Safety Commission standing a bit further off down the path. "Rook, what have I told you about being alert at all times?"

"S-sorry, Senpai," Ryou responded, bowing a bit.

"That would be my fault," Naruto said, trying to draw Naoki's attention off of Ryou and onto himself. Truthfully, he didn't like this guy. He had managed to walk up on them without him noticing, which was never a good sign, especially after he had been so paranoid earlier.

Steel grey met frigid blue as Naoki turned to Naruto. "Be that as it may, Sensei, Rook needs to take responsibility for his mistakes, especially if he hopes to make it anywhere in the Commission. Though, in a way, I appreciate your concern for my charge."

Something about Naoki rubbed Naruto the wrong way. Maybe it was his overly respectful manner of speaking, almost as if it were mocking him, or maybe it was the way he held himself, with his katana strapped tightly to his side. Either way, it made the blond wary. "Whatever, why are you all here?"

"Um, Naruto-sensei, what's going on?" at that moment, Mizore and the others walked up, all with concern showing on their faces, glancing at the group of Commission members still stationed farther down the path. Naoki paid them no heed.

Instead, the boy reached into his coat and produced a neatly folded piece of paper. "It has come to both our and the Chairman's conclusion that you are not fit to detain students here any longer, on the grounds that it is affecting your professional performance. As such, we are here to relieve the students from your supervison." With that, Naoki gave a sign to the other members, prompting them to approach.

"No, wait," Naruto tried to argue as they moved passed him and into the office, prompting shouts of surprise and protest from the students in there as they began leading them out. He quickly scanned the letter, Tsukune and the others rushing up to him as this was happening, and saw that it did accuse him of failing to show up to his classes, and was signed by the Chairman, with his little seal at the bottom.

This just confused Naruto even more, as he had used his clones to keep everything in check. Was this a trick by Kuyou? It was then that he came to the realization that he had never replaced the clone he had teaching his class after the lunch break, leaving the last two periods without a teacher.

"Is everything alright, Sensei? What's going on?"

as the last of the students were carried away, Naoki turned to Naruto and bowed. "We'll be taking our leave now. Come on, Rook."

"Y-yeah. Um, see ya." Ryou's good-bye was much more awkward, and clearly he didn't understand what was going on as he followed Naoki, leaving just Naruto with Mizore, Tsukune, Moka, Kurumu, and Yukari all looking around worriedly and trying to get an answer as to what was happening.

As he watched the Student Safety Commission walk away, he crumpled the note in his hand and turned to punch the wall, yelling, "Damnit!" as he did so, punctuating his shout with a loud bang. He couldn't believe it. All that for nothing. How could he have slipped up so easily? How had he failed?

/

Hey, there you go. Join me in 2014 for the next update. In all seriousness, though, I'll try to update more from now on. Not next week, though, because I'm going on vacation. Sorry. But with essays and work, I'll aim for typing 1000 words a day. That seems good to me. Anyway, I have some reservations about this chapter, for instance, how I wrote Naruto's character. Sure, I can try to write it off as sleep deprivation, but I still don't like it, it bounces around too much, it seem. But cut me a little slack, I haven't done this for eight months, and if I try to fix it now, I doubt I'll ever update.

So, as for that annotation, Ryou mentions that Naoki is dyslexic and calls him Rook, which was supposedly because he was a rookie. However, in shogi, a promoted rook piece is called a ryuo, hence another reason for the nickname. Sure, dyslexia doesn't make much sense when you think about it, but just go with it, will ya?

As a side note, I completely forgot where I was going with this arc and thought up a new direction that may or may not be the one I originally had. So there's that. What I'm saying is, there may be some inconsitancies, but I'll try to make it fit the best I can. Or retcon it. Anyway, let's look at some reviews.

Dezzal says: I just couldnt keep reading the chapter, naruto is a jonin, in what part of that has a jonin ever been so outclassed as to be beaten and stomped on repeatedly and not be able to defend himself, and then on top of that to just get up and not do anything about it, then to say he wouldnt because he is afraid mizore might get hurt when for one he never cared before about that sort of thing in any of the otjer fights and two he is a jonin he makes a living fighting while protecting clients it was just so frustrating to read that I had to stop.

My response: Eh, reasons. I don't actually have a good response to this, I just see it differently. They're all monsters, he doesn't know what they can do, so he's just being cautious. If you don't like it, that's your problem, and you're probably not reading this for one reason or another.

Junky asks: So Naruto has lost most, if not all, the power of the Kyūbi?

My answer: Yes...

Drake the Gunner says: Great story and all, but im surprised you haven't presented Inner Moka, especially since shes on Naruto's harem, care to explain? But great story loved the 4th chapter.

My response: Yeah, I'm saving Inner Moka for a special occasion, much like a fine wine. Besides. I need to establish a relationship between Shizuka and Mizore before a new challenger appears. But it should be only a few more chapters, so, say five years.

Then a bunch of praise for the pairing and current arc, two things I'm sure are going to get a lot of attention in the reviews after this chapter. And, of course, some good omake idea. Unfortunately, there will be no omake this chapter, as it is currently 21:30 and I'm leaving for Virginia at 05:00 tomorrow, so there is really no time. As compensation, I'll do the three I like best next chapter, including ones previously sent to me and ones sent as of this chapter, so everyone gets a fair shake, yeah?

But before I go, I want to share a very special review I got, which was what actually prompted me to write this chapter. This is from Have a Little Feith:

Has it already been a year since this was updated? Damn. Hope it gets updated soon, or else you're gonna drop in reviews.

Do you know of any good Naruto x Nekonome fics? ones with chapters at least 1k words in length? 500 word chapters go by too quickly for me. I'm practically a speed reader.

Fair warning, I may be putting this on my updates list, but if it doesn't get updated within 6 months, it will be taken off my updates list, and you will lose someone who will review every chapter afterwards.

Sure, it may sound a little pretentious, but I like it, and you all have this person to thank I updated at all, so that's about it. Also, no to your question.

Before I forget, there's a new poll up asking which of my stories you want to see priority on. The reason this isn't on it is because it's the only one I feel comfortable writing, so I'll continue regardless. This will be updated exclusively for the next two chapters. Also, you would all just vote for this anyway. Mistakes in Blood isn't up, either, because that'll get done when it get's done, and I'm not in a position to rush it, especially since it seems it'll be the longest thing I've ever written. Also, I may start a new project, because I don't know when to stop. You'll understand if it ever sees the light of day, though. This chapter was 11491 words.