Chapter Ten: Truth Comes Out
It had gotten to the point where something ought to have been done.
Iruka knocked on the door to the Hokage's office and heard permission to come in. Opening the door, Iruka moved in and found Sarutobi behind stacks of paperwork. The old man looked up and took his pipe from his mouth.
"Iruka, how may I help you?" asked Sarutobi.
Iruka sighed. "There are three Sound Village Ninja rooming in an apartment next to one of my students, Naruto."
Sarutobi nodded. "Yes, they were here a few days ago. Is there a problem?"
"I'm concerned about the influence that the Sound Village Ninja are having on Naruto," said Iruka. "I'm afraid they may convince him to act against us."
"Meaning?" asked Sarutobi.
"Naruto is a good kid, but he's socially isolated, Hokage," said Iruka. "The parents of the other children in the village have ensured that their children shun him. His lack of emotional support has made him vulnerable.
"I've tried to provide a certain amount of guidance for him. But in the end, I'm his teacher. Not his father. I caught one of them, Kin, sneaking into the academy and I'm fairly certain she's been taking notes on who is in it."
"I see." Sarutobi took a draft of his pipe. "This is highly unfortunate. I will take the appropriate steps soon. However-"
The door opened. Iruka glanced back and saw the bandaged boy entering. He moved forward and fell to a kneel. He was carrying a great many files.
"Yes?" asked Sarutobi, eyes narrowing.
"Hokage, I have a report for you." said the boy.
"What is it, Dosu?" asked Sarutobi.
Dosu drew up the files and put them on the Hokage's desk. The old man took them up and looked through them. He raised an eyebrow. "What is this?"
"A list of all the weaknesses I could find in the Leaf Village over the past few months," said Dosu. "I was able to plant long-lasting explosive tags on several of them without being observed."
Sarutobi put the file down and eyed him. "Why would you give us this information?"
"Orochimaru has thrown us away," said Dosu. "We have no real reason to remain loyal to him. I have only gone through the motions of loyalty to keep Zaku from acting recklessly. Since that time his loyalties have cooled.
"We would only be able to rejoin the Sound by performing a great service. So we have been analyzing your defenses, looking for weaknesses. Now that we have compiled a complete list, we have decided to give this to you as a display of goodwill."
Sarutobi was silent for a moment. He puffed his pipe, sending smoke rings into the air. "…I will investigate these openings and deal with them. Should they be here, I may well have a use for you."
"Thank you, Hokage," said Dosu.
"You may go," said Sarutobi.
Dosu turned and walked out. The old man leaned back in his seat. "This may be a double bluff. Or he may be playing both sides. Either way, arrangements will have to be made to move Naruto out of their area.
"I'll make arrangements-"
Then the door opened again. This time Naruto barged in without so much as a knock. "Hey old man, we need your help!"
"Naruto!" said Ino behind him. "You can't just barge into the Hokage's office like that?"
"Why not?" asked Naruto.
"Don't you know anything?" asked Ino.
"Ahem," said Sarutobi.
Ino flinched and moved forward. "We're so sorry for the interruption, Hokage. We need your permission for something. Right, Hinata?"
Hinata slunk in, looking mortified.
"Ino, Naruto, Hinata, this is a pleasant surprise," said Sarutobi. "How can we help you?"
"Well Hokage, Naruto, Hinata and I were wondering if we could get a look at the personnel files," said Ino.
Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "This is highly irregular. What do you need it for?"
"Well, it's just we saw a guy drop something," said Ino. "We're hoping to find out who he is so we can return it."
Sarutobi smiled and took out his pipe. "Well, I don't see any harm in the request. However, I insist you be escorted. Some of the files in this area are classified. It wouldn't do to let schoolchildren look through them unaccompanied. Iruka, can I entrust this to you?"
"Of course, Hokage," said Iruka.
"Good," said Sarutobi. "I'll attend to the matter you brought to me shortly."
Iruka led them through a side passage. Being Sarutobi's primary agent in the academy was not a glorious job. But Iruka liked teaching and if he got to protect the kids as well, so much the better. Some of them were high profile targets. "So what is it that you're really after, Ino?"
"Um, what do you mean, Sensei?" asked Ino.
Iruka turned around and looked at her flatly. "I've taught you for years now. I have a pretty good idea of when you're hiding something."
They shifted nervously. Hinata looked further down. "What are you talking about, Iruka-sensei?" asked Naruto. "We-"
Hinata came forward. "Alright, look, I uh… well I… a boy put a scroll on my desk. But I don't recognize him and… well… I want to know who it was."
Dating? Iruka smiled. "Why did you come all the way out here? You could have just checked with me at school."
"Ah, well, we didn't think of that," said Ino.
Iruka didn't believe it for a moment. But he let the matter pass. "Ino, sometimes the simple solutions are the best. Keep it in mind."
He led them to the hall of records and opened the files. "Alright, here we are. You'd better start with the academy records for a start. Hinata, how old was this boy?"
"Um, I'm not sure," said Hinata. "Maybe sixteen. Silver hair and very handsome. He had a ponytail."
"Probably a visitor then. Let me see here," said Iruka, searching through the files. As he did, he became still more suspicious. Something was off about this. "Well, the only teacher in the academy with silver hair is Mizuki. He always used to be insecure about it. And he isn't sixteen."
"No," said Hinata.
Naruto had that guilty look on his face. Ino had a poker face, but Naruto and Hinata did not. Iruka decided to let them stew in it as he moved on. "…It might have been someone under a henge. Still, why don't we move on? We can probably discount any active ninja. They aren't allowed on academy grounds without authorization. Child safety is important to us.
"Medical staff are often brought in on shifts. That's probably our best bet." He pulled out some. "Here's all the medical staff who were in the academy on that day. Do you recognize any of them?"
He opened the file and showed it to Hinata. She looked at it. Her eyes widened as she saw one and pointed to it. "Yes. Him."
Iruka looked in surprise at the picture. "Kabuto?"
"You know him, sensei?" asked Naruto.
"Well, no. Not directly," said Iruka. "But he's one of the most accomplished medical ninjas of his age. He looks younger than he actually is.
"Do you have the note, Hinata?"
They looked at each other.
"Well?" asked Iruka.
Ino drew out a crumpled up note. Iruka read it and felt his wides widen. He opened his mouth. Records on a favorite student? He rolled up the paper and looked at Hinata. "This wasn't put on Hinata's desk, was it?"
"No," said Ino.
"Where did you get this, Ino?" asked Iruka. "This is important. Giving out data on students at the academy is a serious crime."
"I… I found it on Mizuki-sensei's desk," said Ino.
Mizuki? Why would he be giving out this information? Then Iruka realized he knew why. He'd always been dissatisfied with his job placement. "Why didn't you bring this to me right away?"
"You were meeting with him, Iruka-sensei," said Ino. "I panicked. I was afraid I'd get in trouble. I… I'm sorry…"
Iruka put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. You three have nothing to be sorry for.
"Have you told anyone else about this?"
"No," said Ino.
"Naw," said Naruto. "I only learned about it at lunch."
"Me neither," said Hinata.
"Good," said Iruka. "Depending on what this message means, Mizuki may have become involved in something. Something dangerous.
"He may lose his job." And his life, but they didn't need to know that. "I don't think you'll be seeing him around the academy again if this note means what I think it means. I've got to go see the Hokage now. You three head home right away. And don't tell anyone about this. No one. You could be put in danger if you do.
"Do you understand?"
"Is it that serious?" asked Ino.
"Very," said Iruka.
"I… I don't think Mizuki really means any harm, Iruka-sensei," said Hinata. "He probably just made a mistake."
"Yeah," said Naruto, "go easy on him."
"I hope so," said Iruka. "But it was a very serious mistake."
He stood up.
He'd been friends with Mizuki for years. Now he might be signing his death warrant with what came next.
Sarutobi looked down at the note with resignation. He'd very much hoped the villages were moving past all this. Once again, he felt his full age. But he had to lead and calculate what was best for the Leaf. So he looked to Iruka. "You are sure of this?"
"I am sure only of what Ino told me," said Iruka, looking away. "I didn't detect any signs of lying.
"I wish I didn't believe her, but I do. Mizuki isn't like me. He wanted to go on to become a jonin, and he never forgave me for making chunin before him.
"He was ambitious, and he'd hit a dead end."
Sarutobi nodded. "You are correct.
"He was at a dead end. His ascension to jonin was denied due to certain unanswered questions about a man who died on a mission. Perhaps that was a mistake."
"It was me who pulled the strings to get him the teaching job," said Iruka. "I figured he'd grow into it. I never imagined he'd sell information on the students."
"We do not know for certain that he did yet," said Sarutobi.
Sarutobi tapped his foot twice. The ANBU black ops appeared around him in an instant, kneeling, and ready for action. "Hokage?"
"Begin a full search of Mizuki's apartment as well as all the files he has in his workplace," said Sarutobi. "Look for any information regarding the students in his care. Do so with utmost care. Iruka, I have another task for you."
Mizuki had never gotten the message.
He always had one at this time of week. But he hadn't. Had it gotten lost? Or had Kabuto forgotten? He paced back and forth in his apartment as he did so. What had happened to it? Or had it been written at all?
How the hell was he supposed to know where to take his documents if he didn't have the code?
There was a knock on the door.
Mizuki moved forward and opened it. Iruka was waiting on the other side. Mizuki put on a familiar smile. "Iruka? What brings you here?"
"Sorry about this, Mizuki," said Iruka. "We've gotten a call from the Hokage. He wants us to pull all the data on our students and bring it to him.
"Apparently he wants to look at it all himself."
Mizuki blinked. This was irregular. Then again, he was the Hokage."Really? He's been taking a hands-off approach until recently."
Iruka sighed. "I know. But I guess he wants to get back in the game."
"Well, we'd better get to it. Come on," said Mizuki.
They made their way to the academy and began pouring over the files. Setting them into a storage scroll, Mizuki sighed. "Is that everything?"
"Yes," said Iruka.
Iruka had been in that room. Had he grabbed it by accident. No, Mizuki was sure it hadn't been there. "Iruka," he said as they walked out.
"Yes?" said Iruka.
"Nevermind," said Mizuki.
"Is something wrong," asked Iruka.
"Nothing, I've been expecting some homework from one of my students for a few days and well, nothing yet," said Mizuki. Lying was all about having a grain of truth.
"Well, kids are kids," said Iruka. "Do you remember back when we were growing up?"
"Yeah," said Mizuki. "We both lost our parents to the Nine-Tailed Fox. Though I guess we dealt with it in different ways. "Class clown."
"Guilty as charged," said Iruka. "Come on, let's get all this to the Hokage."
They made their way to the Hokage's office as the sun began to sink behind the horizon. Scaling up the stairs, they came to the office and entered. The lights were all out, and as Mizuki entered, he halted. Something was wrong.
He dropped the storage scroll and went for a kunai. But as he did the ANBU black ops surged into view. The blade was pulled from his hand as he was disarmed and forced onto the floor. Looking up, he saw the lights go on. The Hokage's chair was turned around.
Sarutobi Hiruzen turned around his seat. And Mizuki realized he was dressed in black armor. He raised some files in one gauntleted hand. "Now then, Mizuki. There are some important matters that have been brought to my attention. I felt we ought to sort them out face to face before you give any more information to our enemies."
Shit.