Nope, I still don't own Naruto. Nor will I ever own it.

Happy new year, everyone, and enjoy the new chapter!

Japanese – English terms:

Sannin – (Legendary) Three Ninja

Sennin – Hermit

Chapter 25

Luckily, the group was able to find a town and an inn before nightfall. It wasn't the town they were looking for where Tsunade would probably be, but it was better than camping out in the woods…especially now that Anko raised a kunai whenever Jiraiya so much as looked at her, and Iruka was always yelling at Kakashi for reading his book around Naruto. Deciding on rooms was simple…Itachi and Iruka would take one room, Kakashi and Jiraiya would get another, and then Anko and Naruto would share the third since everyone else was too scared to share a room with Anko.

After dinner, Kakashi got them all together. "Okay…I've worked on a training schedule now that I believe Iruka and Itachi can start training again."

The team exchanged looks, while Naruto yawned.

"What does this have to do with us?" Jiraiya, who was seated next to Naruto, mused.

"Because I need to ask you to cut your…ah…hobbies down a bit to actually work with Naruto."

"I've been trying to teach the kid about chakra. You try teaching chakra basics to a four year old!" Jiraiya protested.

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted.

"Hmm…okay. Iruka, that's your job for tonight. Everyone else…"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Iruka protested. "That, I know, couldn't have been in your schedule, and…!"

"You're right…I made it up on the fly."

"Why me?!" Iruka exclaimed.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow as well. "I'd like to know that as well."

"He wants to be a teacher," Kakashi explained, "What better way than to get a jump start on it?"

"But…I'm not…" Iruka stammered.

"You're fine when you lecture us, Ruka-chan," Anko commented.

Itachi had to agree with them. "It's true. You point out things that we don't usually think about, or missed learning because you're really the only one among us that completed the academy properly."

"B-but…" Iruka frowned.

Naruto smiled. "I like Ru-Ru as a teacher better'n the perv."

The team stared at the boy a moment…then Anko snorted and broke into laughter.

"How in the world did you learn that word?" Itachi found his voice first.

"Probably that horrid book…" Iruka muttered.

"Cause…he smells like that guy that Anko found peep'n at the bathhouses once. Except this guy smells like that alla time!" Naruto pointed to Jiraiya.

The teens stared at the Toad Hermit.

Jiraiya shrugged. "What…did you expect me to deny it? I already said, I'm not just a pervert…I'm a super pervert!"

Anko's eye twitched. "…I wanna hurt him."

Iruka sighed and cradled his head in his hands. "I'll have gray hairs by twenty at this rate…"

Itachi just stared incredulously at the Sannin, then muttered under his breath.

"So…anyway…" Kakashi coughed. "For tonight, nothing is planned…if Iruka can teach Naruto about chakra, all the better. If not…well, I can't modify the schedule too much. Until we get a new Hokage, we have no knowledge of what the final verdict on the Chuunin exams is. However, we, as in the Jounin instructors, have been instructed to treat everyone like they were still Genin. Thus, training."

Anko didn't stop twirling her kunai, but looked at their teacher. "So, what's the schedule?"

"Various drills during breaks on the road, before bed, and during Jiraiya-sama's research…"

Anko's hand with the kunai twitched.

"Please, Kakashi-sensei…not while she's holding a lethal weapon…" Iruka groaned.

Itachi snickered, but didn't argue it since he, too, preferred to live.

"Sparring if we get to an inn and there's time before or after meals. If the basics are trained up well, then you'll be much better at the advanced stuff. Though, there will be some individual work you can do. I'll allow for Itachi to train with his Sharingan and Iruka to patch up any injuries with his jutsu."

"Wait…" Iruka interrupted. "I don't know how I pulled off the healing jutsu I used during the attack, but it was probably a fluke…I've never practiced on anyone before."

"What better way to start, then?" Kakashi smiled under his mask.

Iruka stared at him a moment, then muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "bastard" under his breath.

"And as for Naruto…"

The boy perked up at his name.

"Jiraiya-sama will help you with your red wind. You have to get a basic grasp of chakra, first, however. Once you do, your training will start when Jiraiya-sama isn't…busy."

Anko twitched again.

"Any questions?" Kakashi finally finished.

Anko raised her hand. "Not really a question, but a promise. Jiraiya, great Toad Sennin or not, if you corrupt Naruto or try to scope me out, I will find a way to castrate you in the most painful way you can imagine. Are we clear?"

The males in the room, sans Naruto who didn't know what 'castrate' meant, cringed at the look on Anko's face with her tone of voice.

Jiraiya nodded with a small squeak. With the look on the girl's face, there was no doubt that she would very well carry through with that threat.

Anko smiled and stopped emitting blood lust. "Good! Glad we got that worked out! I'm going to get ready for bed, then. Goodnight, all!"

When the door closed behind her, the males looked at each other.

"She scares you all, too, right?" Jiraiya gulped.

Nods went up around the room.

"Good…I'm glad it's not just me…"

"She has her good points, though…" Iruka smiled.

Jiraiya stared at him, then looked at Kakashi. "Kid, your team is insane."

"I'm well aware of that."

"No, I mean, as in mental."

"Yes…I know. I'm well aware of that."

"Oh. Okay…as long as you know…"

Itachi cleared his throat. "We're still here, you know." He glared at them with his Sharingan for good measure.

Naruto clapped his hands with a grin. He thought it was cool…and besides, the conversation was making the toad guy and his Kakati make funny faces.

"I think I'll go practice with the Sharingan, now. Good luck in teaching, Iruka."

"Ah…you, too. With your training."

Itachi nodded, and left the room.

Iruka raised an eyebrow at Kakashi and Jiraiya. "I'll be heading back to my room to try my hand at teaching, then…come on, Naru-chan."

"Okie!" Naruto chirped and took Iruka's hand, then stuck out his tongue at Jiraiya as they exited the room.

The two ninja were silent a moment.

Then, Jiraiya spoke.

"As in, certifiable basket cases."

"Yes…I know."

Iruka nearly jumped a mile into the air when his attention was suddenly torn from the books and scrolls in front of him by the shout that charged towards him.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

Iruka stared up with wide eyes at a huffing Jiraiya. The night had passed uneventfully, thank goodness, and they had been traveling again. It was their first 'practice time' break, and since Itachi needed work with his Sharingan, Kakashi assigned them to individual study.

Which meant that Jiraiya would go back to trying to teach Naruto.

"Uh…what?" Iruka stammered.

Jiraiya pointed to the blond that sat on the grass a small distance from them. "Him! Understanding! You! How?!"

Iruka blinked owlishly. "I…am not sure I understand what you're talking about…"

"He knows what I'm saying, now! He understands chakra! The very, very basics, less than an academy student, but enough to maybe grasp what I can teach him about suppressing his chakra and calling upon it at will!" Jiraiya's arms waved wildly as he ranted.

"Oh!" Iruka smiled. "Well, Naruto always has done better with diagrams or a demonstration to help him learn. So, we opened the box of crayons he brought with him and his special coloring book."

"His 'special' coloring book?"

Iruka nodded. "Yup. It's actually more of a notebook for him. It's blank…no pictures to color in. He draws in it instead of using words."

Jiraiya stood there, dumbfounded. "And you know this, how…?"

"When Asuma-san was training me, Naruto would try to copy us. At first, I thought it was just imitation, until I realized that his 'coloring' was really just using the backs of the pages from his coloring books to draw what we were doing."

Jiraiya couldn't say a word.

"So, I bought him a blank coloring book for it."

"How did you know he wasn't just drawing you two in ninja poses?" Jiraiya finally managed to find his tongue.

"I asked him what he drew, and he explained to me, in his own words, about cutting the leaves in half with our chakra. He didn't really understand what it all meant, but he knew how to do it. Once he fully learns about chakra, he'll probably be able to do the drill, himself."

Jiraiya knew Naruto was the son of Kuzunoha…but he didn't expect the kid to be so far ahead. On the other hand… "And the kid still can't even write his own name?"

"Nope. It's more of instincts. What we call 'chakra', he calls 'red wind'. It's all just chakra…energy. You just have to put it in terms he'll understand."

Jiraiya wondered when he'd fallen so much to be taught how to teach by a fifteen year old Genin. Still, if it works… "And how do I find those terms?"

Iruka thought a moment before he spoke. "I wouldn't say you have to think like a four year old, or an eight year old since that would be his mental equivalent…it's more of realizing that Naruto is creative. And, that he's been doing everything instinctively. Nobody told him how to create that red wind or shut it off."

"Yet he has been shutting it off…"

"Only when I can calm him down enough to get into the maelstrom without being sliced to pieces. But, the point is, that he can do it. He's driven by emotions. Most of the time the 'red wind' emerged were times when he was terrified or angry. He identifies that much, at least."

"Alright, then. Thank you."

"No problem!" Iruka smiled brightly.

"I'll…let you study, now…"

"Alright." Iruka waved to him, then turned back to his scrolls and books.

Jiraiya nearly walked right into Kakashi on his way back to Naruto.

"Iruka, right?"

Jiraiya nodded dumbly. "What the hell is he? A genius or something?"

"I'm beginning to think so, yes. Undiscovered talent. He had a rough handle on the basics when I first met him, but nothing more. However, he continued to show strange bursts of insight, so it led me to believe that he was capable of a lot more than anyone, even he himself, thought."

Jiraiya shook his head wryly. "Even in medical jutsu, too…"

"The entire team is like that, but Iruka more than the others. He's like Naruto, in a way. Or, Naruto is like him. Rough around the edges, but a possible diamond if molded correctly. They have to work for what they want, but it's there instinctively."

Jiraiya chuckled. "True geniuses are the ones that were called drop outs."

Kakashi inclined his head in a show of agreement.

As Jiraiya headed back over to the blond, who looked to be meditating, Kakashi called after him.

"Oh…and the book is excellent, thank you."

Jiraiya grinned lecherously. "Absolutely."

Kakashi chuckled and turned around, then blinked at his youngest team member.

Itachi was giving him an inscrutable look that Kakashi couldn't quite identify.

"What?" Kakashi finally asked.

Itachi just shook his head as if in defeat, muttered "now there's two of them", and returned to shadow boxing against himself with the Sharingan to aid him.

Kakashi stared at Itachi a moment, then looked at where Anko was talking or arguing with some snakes, then to where Iruka muttered to himself as he jotted down notes and went over hand signs.

"Certifiable."

Kakashi didn't outwardly jump at Jiraiya's voice, though internally, he did. He gave Jiraiya a flat look.

Jiraiya just chuckled, then skipped off to see how Naruto was coming along with his meditation. Yep. This group of misfits…are certifiable geniuses down to the youngest currently here. Konoha might just have a brighter future than I thought.

When the sun was setting, the group was making camp once again. Even Naruto wanted to help, so he usually tagged along with one of the group members to help them with their chore. Today, it was helping Kakashi to get some water. Jiraiya and Itachi were in charge of setting up the tents, while Anko and Iruka had to get the firewood and rocks for the fire pit.

Anko kicked at a rotted log, then found a better one. "Do you think this will go smoothly?"

"Huh?" Iruka paused and shifted his own bundle of rocks and wood to look at her.

"I mean, finding Tsunade. From what I've heard, she's a notorious gambler that roams around."

Iruka stared at his pile of wood and rocks a moment, then spoke quietly. "Would you rather be training with Ibiki?"

Anko raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…well…Kakashi-sensei can't give us all his attention, so we've been just doing basics and chakra building drills when we aren't studying individually. I know that I feel like I'm not getting much done, so…"

"You think we aren't getting anything done?"

"That's not what I meant! I mean…it's just…"

"Oh, I get it…" Anko nodded to herself.

Iruka jumped a little. "Y-you do?"

"Yep. You're dumping on yourself again. You aren't about to give up like in the hospital, right?"

Iruka shook his head. Anko had been about ready to slap him in the hospital, when he woke up and freaked out that he had killed somebody for the first time. Though, it was nice when she hugged him to silence his fearful rant…

"Hello? Ruka-chan?"

"Ah…no, I'm not going to freak like that…I'm over it…mostly…"

"They weren't even classified as human, Ruka-chan."

Iruka frowned. "That's not what I mean. It's…"

"You don't think you're any good? How can you not be improving if you were the only one among us during that invasion that kept a level head?"

Iruka stared at her in shock. "A level head? I was panicking!"

"You didn't look like you were panicking when you told Yuugao to wake Izumo up to back Kotetsu, Hayate, and Genma up…then stopped Ita-chan and I from charging after Orochimaru to back up the ones fighting in the stands."

Iruka smiled wryly. "Trust me…I was way beyond panicking, then. I think it was that I was so far gone that my head was clear."

Anko chuckled. "You have a weird habit of panicking over what you shouldn't, and remaining calm in a crisis."

"I wasn't calm."

"Okay, outwardly remaining calm."

Iruka gave a small shrug.

Anko seemed to think about something, then looked at him. "And, no…I'd much rather be here with you guys than training with Ibiki. It was great, don't get me wrong…but he's not you guys…not my closest family."

Iruka sighed and mumbled. "Just 'family', huh…?"

"You say some'n?" Anko squinted at him before she selected another log.

"No…" Iruka looked away. Damn, I'm a coward!

Anko chuckled. "Ruka-chan…are you jealous of the time I spent with Ibiki?"

Iruka turned red and started to sputter. "Me!? Of Ibiki?! Of course not! I mean, he's around Kakashi-sensei's age, for one, and…!"

Anko nearly dropped what she was holding as she burst into laughter. "Wow, you were totally jealous!"

Iruka protested some more, his face now bright red as Anko laughed. Then, he frowned and looked at the ground. "It is funny, I guess…" I'm so stupid…I think I…no, I know I like Anko, but…of course, we're just a team…

For some reason, those thoughts hurt.

The laughter stopped, and Anko looked over at him. "Ruka-chan…all Ibiki did was train me to be tougher mentally and showed me a little sparring. That's all."

Iruka managed to smile. "Yea…"

Anko studied him a minute.

Iruka kept the smile up, but looked away. Smile…nothing's wrong…I'm too much of a coward to say anything, and it's not like it'll be returned…plus, we're only fifteen. I mean, I don't even know how she feels!

"I'm an idiot…" Iruka mused aloud.

"Yes, you are," Anko agreed.

Iruka bowed his head.

"You're an idiot for thinking that Ibiki is more than a teacher to me. You're an idiot for not thinking that you've improved. You're an idiot for constantly coming down on yourself when there's no need to. Am I making sense, yet?"

Iruka chuckled, and his smile became a little more genuine. "Yea." I can't say it, and I still don't know how she feels…but Anko believes in me, so…I'll keep that, for now.

Anko grinned, then walked towards him. "I think we have enough rocks and firewood. Let's get back before they send someone to search for us. Like Jiraiya."

Iruka laughed. "I can only imagine what he would be thinking we're doing! Or even Kakashi-sensei, now, with that porn book he's always into thanks to Jiraiya-sama…"

Anko snickered. "They probably think we're making out or having hot, steamy sex or something."

"A-Anko!!" Iruka's face turned red.

"What?"

"You don't just…I don't know…say that out loud!"

Anko raised an eyebrow. "Why not? We both know that's what they're probably thinking."

Iruka groaned and closed his eyes. "For the love of…"

Anko chuckled, then gave him a quick kiss on the nose before she walked past him with her firewood. "Keep up, slowpoke. We don't want to let them think anything deeper, now do we?"

Iruka's eyes had shot open at the peck, and his mouth opened and closed a couple times while a flush made its way to his cheeks. Did she just…kiss me? On the nose, and very quick, but……

"Well?" Anko called from up ahead.

When Iruka looked closely, he could see that her own face had a slight flush to it. She wasn't teasing him…if she was blushing, too, she wasn't just teasing him. Iruka grinned widely and hurried to catch up. Maybe it wasn't hopeless, after all.

TO BE CONTINUED…