Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never will, don't want to. But it's fun to dabble!
Chapter Thirty-Six: The Immortal
No one is perfect.
No one makes the right decisions every day of their life. If you're lucky maybe those mistakes you do make will come rarely, but they will come. They will come.
Some mistakes don't really matter. You can take a wrong turn or forget to do your dishes without it really having an impact on the grand scheme of things. But so mistakes do matter, and some mistakes can have consequences both long reaching and catastrophic in nature. Mistakes are made because no one in the world, not a single person, is perfect. Mistakes happen every day, and you can only hope that your mistakes don't matter, because not everyone is that lucky.
Uzumaki Naruto wasn't perfect.
Few people knew exactly where the war began. The official story wasn't anywhere near the truth. The truth, which was that it was all Naruto's fault.
The Leaf. The Stone. The Sand. The Cloud. The Mist. These are the five great ninja villages, scattered across the world in their secluded hideaways. There are many other hidden villages, but for the most part they are minor and so is their effect on the world. But that is only for the most part, because sometimes even the smallest things can make the biggest changes, and sometimes those tiny villages can change the world.
The alliance between the Sand and the Leaf had lasted many years. When Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage of the Leaf and Gaara of the Desert, Godaime Kazekage of the Sand were just boys they fought in a war between their villages. That was before either of them were anything but simple Genin and tortured souls. Now as adults they were men of power, rulers of their people and fathers to their children. They were friends and allies and so were the villages they represented.
Relations between the Leaf and other villages were not so warm. The Leaf and the Stone had fought a war years past, a war which had been won bitterly by Naruto's own father. They had not been pleased to hear that the Yellow Flash had become the Fourth Hokage and years later even less pleased to hear that his son had taken the title. They felt the blood of the hundreds of their people Naruto's father had slaughtered and they felt the insult of a murderer's blood being raised on high. A dynasty built on the bodies of the dead was the last thing they wanted.
The Hidden Mist considered itself neutral. The Water country was separated from the continental landmass by a huge body of water, and so just by their own nature they involved themselves little in the matters of the other countries and the other villages. All the same they had warm relations with both the Leaf and the other village just as isolated as them – the Cloud. There was a difference between the Mist and the Cloud however - one was neutral and the other, the other was not.
When Uzumaki Naruto had been a young Hokage the Hidden Cloud had sent an army to attack. He, along with his two teammates, had fought off that army. It had not been easy, but they had made it look that way. That was another insult that had not been quickly forgotten. But that wasn't the reason the Cloud had declared total war on the Leaf.
There had been a diplomatic visit to the Cloud. Standard affair, nothing special. Naruto had gone, taking his wife Hinata and the youngest of his children. Koyuki and Obito loved the fun of seeing another village a lot more than they'd liked the long trip across country. Hinata was the opposite. She had no love for the Cloud, and the hate she had for them was completely deserved. When she was just three years old she had been kidnapped by one of their ninjas. They had wanted the Byakkugan blood limit that was her inheritance, and so if she hadn't been rescued the best she could have hoped for was to be raped and abused so she could produce children. The worst would have been to be carved up and examined in the hopes the Cloud would be able to copy her powers.
Hinata was terrified for her babies. She didn't want to leave them at home but she didn't want to take them with her. In the end she decided that they were safer with her, but that didn't stop her being scared for every second they were in the Cloud.
Naruto was scared too, but he hid it better. He looked every inch the dignified legend. Bringing his family was a political decision, however, and he had to stick with it. By bringing his wife and children it was a symbol of the trust the Leaf was supposed to have with the Cloud. And that's what it would have been, if only that trust had been in his heart and not just his head.
Koyuki ran off in the streets of Cloud one day. Naruto went after her, and he saw something that made his heart skip a beat. His little girl lying on the ground and a man standing over her. He saw red, and when he came to he had sliced that stranger in half with his own hands. The blood was on his claws before he even realised what he was doing.
And in the end that was what the war came down to. One life taken before its time, one over-protective father and one child who had just tripped.
The man wasn't a ninja. In fact he wasn't much of anything at all. His father, however, was the owner of the Cloud's largest business: a company which owned half the land in the Lightning country and which was a major, major client of the Raikage.
For the son of such a man to be murdered in the Hidden Cloud village itself by the very leader of another village? Retribution was simply inevitable. And frankly it was the justification the Cloud had spent years looking for.
The Leaf village council refused Naruto's resignation, even though he offered it through mournful mask. They were angry, sure, and they were bitter. Several of them wanted him gone. Some still harboured hatred towards the bearer of the Kyuubi. But most came to the conclusion that they needed their Hokage to lead them into the war.
Naruto had gotten into the war because he thought his daughter was in danger, but once the Cloud began their campaign he realised that the war itself meant that every day he needed to send his other children into worse and worse danger every day. Yume and Iruka were both Chuunins when the war started, and Neji was close to becoming a Genin.
By the time the Stone joined the Cloud both of those Chuunin had seen several battles and skirmishes. They had begun to earn reputations - not just among the Leaf-Sand alliance but also with the enemy as well. The need for new Genin had forced forward Neji, and Hanako was already far in her training. It was a far cry for when their parents had waited to be twelve before being promoted that far, and even then it had been a tough trial to pass. Now the Leaf needed as many of their children to become their soldiers as possible, terrible though it seemed.
It wasn't just the five great ninja villages about whom the great war revolved. The smaller villages were caught up as well. One village in particular was central to the struggle, though few would ever know just how important the Hidden Sound was to the conflict.
In the end, the war that killed and ravaged thousands came down to family. It was started thanks to one father and daughter, and another father and his son. And it was family that decided it all, in the end.
"Iruka-dono, it's time."
Uzumaki Iruka jumped from his post and landed softly on the grass. "Where are they?"
The Sand Chuunin locked his brown eyes with Iruka's white. "The enemy force is ten miles to the south. Mai-san has the full report."
"Get her."
Iruka pulled out a scroll, opened it and cut his thumb, smearing some blood onto the seal-work and finishing by throwing it into the air. It changed, turning from that scroll into a pair of steel armlets, which fell directly onto Iruka's outstretched wrists, locking into place. He looked them over, checking one last time, and that was when Okuta Mai stepped out behind him.
"Iruka, you wanted me?" The lack of an honorific spoke volumes more than anything else about her, in the silence.
"Report." It was a firm imperative from years of giving commands, and it was spoken without Iruka turning round.
"Yes sir," Her voice was almost, almost but not quite mocking. The Chuunin had never been happy with her assignment under Uzumaki Iruka. She had never liked him and didn't feel like he deserved to be given so much responsibility at such a young age. To her, it seemed as if the only reason he was given such an significant position was because of who his father was, while people like her were forced to serve under dynastic aristocrats like the Uzumakis.
"The vibrations are strange. There are definitely somewhere between thirty and forty of them. But something is wrong…"
"What?"
"I can't be sure, sir, I'm only a weak little girl. How am I supposed to have an opinion?"
Iruka spun round, facing Mai. His white eyes pulsed with energy and her breath caught in her throat at the sheer presence of his stare. "Mai, I understand that you don't like me, but you are still a citizen and shinobi of the Sand and anything you do to make my job harder is nothing short of treason. You might not believe it but I trust your judgement. Now, report."
"There are thirty-two of them. Adults. They carry themselves like pros, and… they're carrying something else as well. Something heavy."
"What is it?"
Mai's mouth curved, half into a smile and half into a sneer, "I'm not that good."
"Where are they headed?"
"Karinu village," Mai replied.
"No," Iruka said, furrowing his brow in thought. "No. They're carrying something. That means they're important. They're too big a group and too important to be raiding such a minor target.
"It's something else."
Iruka gave a sharp whistle and the rest of the squad lined up. There were ten of them, Leaf and Sand both, and they were some of the best in both villages. This was one of the three joint-village ninja teams, the symbols of the alliance between their two countries. The fact that Iruka commanded one was proof of just how trusted and respected he was as a leader and a Jounin. Not that it hurt that his father was Hokage, of course.
"Alright, we're going to scout this enemy force. Do not engage; primary objective is to identify their target and report back. I repeat – do not engage.
"We're going to find out what they're really up to. Now move!"
In a two-pronged formation the squad dashed across the plain. Iruka took the lead and set their pace. For an Uzumaki running at speed for hours on end was nothing, but Iruka knew well that wasn't true of everyone. All the same, he needed his subordinates to push as hard as they could whenever he needed them to, so as a leader he couldn't let what he knew affect what they had to do. Of course they hardly needed to run for hours this time, just long enough to catch up to their targets.
A mile from the village, coming into a forested part of land in the remote region of the Fire country, Iruka's team closed in on the enemy. With a gesture he pulled them into silent stealth. The eleven shinobi hovered lightly in the trees and watched carefully. Some minutes later Mai nodded her head; her bare arms were held down touching the bark of the tree and she could sense every motion in the whole wood.
The enemy came distantly into view and every one of the Sand and Leaf-nins held their breath in mixed anticipation and fear. Iruka's eyes widened. With his Byakugan he could see them clearly even at a distance, and he could see through the cloth covering their cargo.
Iruka brought his hands up and gestured a few short signs. Everyone knew what they meant. The team spread out in a blurring burst of movement, leaving Iruka stooping on his branch. He banged together the metal bands on his wrists and a clear note sounded through the air, carrying with it a wave of magnified chakra. Immediately the heads of the Sound-nins snapped round to face his direction, their eyes filled with an unbelieving terror.
In that moment of weakness the first wave of his squad struck. A net flew down from above, billowing out over the heads of the cluster of enemy ninjas. Of course a simple net was no problem for trained shinobi to avoid. Or at least that was what they thought – just as the net fell clear, surrounded by a ring of Sound-nins, it jerked up back into the air and swiftly wrapped itself round three of them. They were bound tight, and their struggles were fruitless.
High in a tree, Ebirou held one hand in a careful position as he tied off the chakra strings that had held his net. Reaching inside his jacket he pulled out a cluster of kunai which he hurled at his prisoners, his hands guiding them with new strings with perfect precision and deadly results.
Two of those trapped ninjas slumped down – dead - but as the sharp edge of the kunai pierced his skull the third of them changed. One man's face became another, and it was another Sound-nin who fell in his place. That cruel face was transported away, and it twisted even further as its owner blurred in movement and decision.
While this was happening two more members of Iruka's squad had jumped into the fight, with blades sharp and flashing in the light, and of course the enemy moved themselves as well. The group carrying the cloth-wrapped load ran, going as fast as they could. Around them circled another group, guarding their comrades unyieldingly.
Within the main group two Sound-nins moved in ways that distinguished them from the crowd. One surprised the others when he began slicing with his sword into the man next to him. His face was contorted in shock and disbelief, his eyes showing that he was nothing but a confused puppet. Within the cover of the trees Uchiha Yamino smirked, Sharingan eyes taking in every detail from above.
The other Sound ninja was the one who had sacrificed his own teammate so callously. His hands moved in a long series of seals, and around him the air began to glow hotter and hotter until it burned.
In the dry woodland fire spread fast; flames licked from branch to branch and tree to tree, and it soon became apparent that soon everything around was going to go up in smoke.
The fire did not touch the Sound-nins. It leapt away from them; the flames burning anything and everything around, but never quite reaching them. Through the haze of smoke the Leaf and Sand-nins fought on, but they were losing that fight, and they knew it. Their fears were made evident and flesh when Manju gave a short scream and dropped bleeding and dead to the ground.
But the smoke wasn't the only thing going up into the sky. An arm stretched up, pointing high. "Come," A voice cried out, "Come, rain!" A bolt of chakra flew through the smoke and kept on going. It went as high as it could, up into the clouds themselves, and there the chakra began to work. Those clouds darkened and gathered dense as if in fast-forward, and within seconds they burst. Thick, wet droplets fell down from the now-black sky, and just as quickly as the fire had exploded into life it was quenched out of it.
But there was still a fire in that forest. It was in the white eyes of Uzumaki Iruka as he brought down his arm. "You disgust me," he said with true hatred in his voice, as the arsonist ninja swept his legs in a kick at him. "You killed your own companion," Iruka said as he dodged the kick and pushed his palm forward in the Hyuuga style of fighting. The Sound-nin's mouth curved sinisterly as Iruka made contact with his chest. The hit wasn't strong enough, he thought, right up until his breath caught in his throat. Still with his palm touching the older man's chest, Iruka said a few words.
"Uzumaki Style: Spiral Fist."
The Gentle Fist attacked the internal organs of its target. That was what it had always done. Uzumaki Naruto was no Hyuuga, so he could not use the Gentle Fist, but his wife and his children could. And if there was anything that Naruto was good at, it was creating jutsus.
Iruka shredded the Sound-nin's heart and lungs from the inside, pureeing his organs in a whirl of spinning chakra. He died quickly, but he died painfully, and Iruka didn't care.
Smoke and steam cleared and Iruka's squad could see clearly. The enemy was gone, either dead or fled. And that meant the chase was on.
Ahead of the main group were three members of Iruka's team, chasing after the mysterious cargo of the Sound. They were not enough to defeat or destroy them, so their job was simple: to delay, divert, detain; to do whatever they could to slow them down.
Catching up with them was in itself an easy job, considering they were weighed down so heavily, but it was made even easier by the fact that among those three was the young man named Rock Len. Len, in his green spandex and bowl cut, looked quite the image of his father at sixteen and had his speed as well. But he didn't just take after his father, as the Sound-nins were learning the very hard way. His shuriken met their targets unerringly and with unbelievable speed. If their targets had been anything other than skilled and experienced shinobi they would all have died, but that was exactly what they were. All the same, fallen bodies and deflected blades littered the forest floor, but despite that fact the enemy kept on moving; they moved just as unerringly towards the edge of the forest as the shuriken did towards them.
Shinobi broke off from the guard and made a beeline for Len and his two comrades. They had become too much of a nuisance, and had to be dealt with. It was exactly what Len wanted – after all, Len was expecting an easy victory. But things aren't always as easy as you expect.
One of the Sound-nins held his right arm out towards the three oncoming ninjas, and he steadied his aim with his left hand just below his elbow. He smiled, and nothing happened.
But then everything happened – the world changed, spinning and rolling and churning inside their heads and bodies. The three shinobi stumbled on level ground, trying to steady themselves but failing over and over. It took all their control to stay even remotely upright.
It was luck that saved Len. He fell forward just right for the kunai to miss him. Renki, to his right, wasn't that fortunate, though it was not fatal, and as for Mai, it wasn't luck that saved her. The kunai nicked her, coming deathly close to doing more, but it only did that much because she let it. She'd waited till the very last moment to make her move, and the cost was a line of blood across her bare arm.
A kunai coming fiercely at you would scare anyone, but the emotions behind these ones were nothing like fierce. They were lazy, they were cold but despite that they were not chilling in the least. The man who'd thrown them wasn't expecting any resistance. He was completely confident that the Sand and Leaf-nins were already dead. And that in turn was what killed him, in blood and rage and fire like a death should be.
"Tricks like that won't work on me," Mai said as she plunged her kodachi through the chest of the second enemy ninja. "Sound is just vibration." Chopped down, his jutsu was broken, but for good measure Mai kicked the speaker built into his arm into shrapnel. "That'll never work on me."
Len struggled up, and bent over Renki. "Crap." Len loosened the bandages from around his arms and with a flow of chakra they wrapped round the Leaf Chuunin's wound. "Stay alive Renki, and Ayame will be here soon. But the mission has to continue."
His first step was unsteady. By two steps Len was on-balance. In three, he was moving at speeds beyond human limit. He arced round the enemy group and came at them from the front. Some moved to oppose, but Len was not worried. As the first of the Sound-nins came within arms reach of him, Len reached deep inside himself and did something a lot like flipping a switch. New energy flowed like magma and his muscles twitched in anticipation.
The Sound-nin came at him, but Len dodged with a fluid and effortless movement. With his body working at a hundred percent one gentle shove was enough to end the man's life. The new energy flowing through him might have been intoxicating if it hadn't been so painful.
He put on a second burst of speed as the next of his foes approached. When he spun into a midair kick he moved so fast the air spun out in a whirl, and it was that as much as anything that threw the two shinobi away. They landed
When Len pulled out the shuriken the enemy knew what to expect. The moment the metal glinted in the air they began counter measures. Some simple shuriken were nothing to deal with, no matter how fast or how hard they were thrown. And besides, they had the measure of Len now.
They recognized the green suit Len wore. Who wouldn't? It was the same as the one Rock Lee wore, and everyone knew and feared him. One of the Leaf's three Taijutsu Kings, his name and appearance was famous on one side of the war and infamous on the other. And with that fame came a price – his weakness was well known as well. Rock Lee could not use Ninjutsu and he could not use Genjutsu. And so they were confident also that this younger version of Lee was just the same, that he was swift and strong but nothing else.
It came as a surprise, therefore, when Len jumped into the air and made some seals with his hands, and doubly so when from the air swirled above them. Hands of wind blew through the branches of the trees, picking up their leaves and spinning them together like wool on a loom. A high dome of solid green, knitted together out of chakra and hundreds of leaves covered the enemy squad, and at its peak Len landed lightly, breathing hard. He kept one hand to the surface of the construct, and with the other slowly felt his body all over. To do what he had done did not come easy; to open the Celestial Gates took a toll on his body.
Rock Len was unlike his father in that he could perform Ninjutsu, yes, but he had no particular talent for it. For him to do such a high-level jutsu required more than he normally had. He needed the Gates: to give him that extra boost of chakra, sure, but more for the speed than anything else. He was slow at seals and poor at targeting the effects, and it was only when time slowed down in that rush of power that he could really work something like the Leaf Prison no Jutsu.
"Len!" Mai shouted, having just caught up. "Did you get them all?"
He nodded, still taking in ragged, pained breaths from his torn body.
"How long can you hold it?"
"A few minutes… but I'll keep it up as long as we have to. They're not getting out of here… not while I'm alive." His speech, it was slow and dull, but his eyes were nothing of the sort.
Mai took a scroll out from her vest and opened it, thumbing a series of symbols. A flare, sealed away inside the scroll, was released into the air, and the Sand-nin threw it up high. Doing that marked their exact position for the rest of the squad to find quickly and easily.
Some minutes later Iruka came sprinting there, leading most of the rest of the squad with him. Ayame was absent, as was Yamino, and of course Renki and Manju. Hyuuga Ayame was some way back where the forest was denser and deeper, tending to Renki's injuries. Yamino stayed back for another reason – to be a rear guard, kept in reserve as needed. You never knew what was going to happen.
"Len, are you okay?" Iruka asked. The Chuunin's only response was to nod, but the strain was obvious on his face. Iruka was concerned of course, but not as much as he was about the success of the mission. After all, he knew what was under that cloth and just how dangerous a…
"FUCK!" Iruka came to a sudden and sharply blunt realisation. "Drop the shield, NOW!"
Panic and adrenaline pumped through Iruka's body, which in a roar of power split from one to ten, there at the edge of the forest. Ten Irukas ran at the dome of leaves, Rasengans spinning in the hands of them all. By the time they reached it, the leaves had fallen apart like petals in the wind, and the men left inside were revealed. There were exactly ten of them, as well, or at least there were for the few moments before they met their ends in the Jounin's attack.
But they weren't the only things to be revealed when the prison disappeared. There was a thick and heavy cloth, discarded to a heap in what had been the corner. And there was something else, standing firm in the ground.
"Is that…?" Ebirou asked, eyes wide under his white makeup. "Yeah," Iruka said, down to just two clones now, and surrounding the wooden structure from three directions. Within its masterfully carved opening light was gathering unnaturally. "It's a Portal."
Shock ran like a current through the group
"We have to destroy it. Now. I hope to all the gods there are they didn't have a chance to fully activate it. Explosive notes! Now!"
They worked like a finely tuned instrument, and with the effort of the whole squad soon the entire surface of the rectangular gateway was covered in the elaborate seals of the paper notes. Iruka placed the final one, and put his hand on it, pushed some of his chakra into it and backed away quickly. As the chakra jumped from one connected note to another, he and everyone else expected them to glow briefly and then go off in an enormous blast.
But that isn't what happened. Chakra passed from note to note sure enough, and they did glow, but there was no explosion of any sort. The chakra from the notes was being sucked inside the Portal itself. Cursing, Iruka ripped off as many notes as he could, but it was too late. "Shit! Of all the luck… It's absorbing chakra: we just completed the circuit!"
Iruka whistled, and Yamino hopped forward from her hiding place, coming up close to her leader. He gestured her in close and spoke softly.
"Retreat. This is an order from your commander."
"Iruka..!"
"I said retreat, Yamino. Do it. Get Ayame and Renki, take the squad and go back to base. I'll hold them off."
"Iruka – sir… Iruka, you can't possibly beat them all!"
"I know. But I can hold them off long enough for you and everyone else to get out of here and live."
Yamino struggled with what to say. She settled for grabbing Iruka by the head and sticking her tongue down his throat. The kiss only lasted for a few seconds by necessity, but it was passionate none the less. Breaking off, Yamino looked down and rested her head on Iruka's chest. "Come back alive," she said throatily.
"Hey," Iruka replied, "Who do you think you're talking to?"
"The stupidest guy to come out of the whole stupid Uzumaki clan!"
"Well, that too."
The light within the gateway intensified, forming a shining ball that hovered there just for a moment before bursting into a shower of stars like a firework. From that point where the light had been came now a pinprick of darkness. And it grew all the way until it filled the Summoning Portal from edge to edge.
"Run!" Iruka screamed, and he was obeyed. The squad split off in two directions. The wounded and slower members straight towards home, while Yamino took the rest back into the forest to get the members still in there. They were well gone by the time the Portal began to shake; its trembles foretelling the troubles to come.
Iruka quickly pulled out his remaining explosive notes and scattered them on the ground around the gate. Other than that, he did nothing but wait. He needed to reserve his chakra, because he needed everything he had to fight as long as he would have to if he wanted to give his team and his home a fighting chance.
He didn't have to wait long. He wouldn't have had the time to do anything major anyway, even if he'd wanted to, because it was just seconds after he'd placed the tags that they began to emerge.
The army of the Sound.
The first few out of the Portal were incinerated, of course, by the explosive notes. But only the first few. More and more came out, faster and faster.
The Portal wasn't an actual gateway. There wasn't a duplicate somewhere that the shinobi were walking through and ending up in front of Iruka. Instead it was effectively an enormous seal, binding one location to another and allowing the ninjas to step out from the air in the Sound and appear miles away.
It had much in common with the jutsu that the Hokage used to teleport himself around, but adapted for a time of war.
The wave of ninjas grew outwards, with the Portal itself at their heart. Iruka jumped back to avoid the newly emerging Sound-nins, throwing shuriken where he could spare them. But the Sound did nothing. They didn't consider one enemy ninja much of a threat, and besides – they were waiting for their own Jounin commander.
He was a tall man. Tall and thin, with pasty skin. A corded rope coiled up from his leg, around his torso and to his shoulders, and underneath it he wore a white robe, marked with the emblem of the Sound. He wore his long, black hair in braids, and his eyes didn't contain a drop of humanity.
"Oh look, it's a little flea. Run away flea, or you'll be squished."
Byakugan active, and in the traditional battle stance of the Gentle Fist, Iruka faced down the army. He ignored what their leader had said, speaking his own boasts.
"You know who I am?"
"Judging by your face, you must be one of the fox's brats." The Sound-nin spread his hands wide.
"I said do you know who I am, not who my father is."
"No. And I don't care." Waving a hand to his men, the Jounin made a signal they all knew well. As if machines they threw their kunai all at once, all at Iruka. His body was instantly ruined, and he became nothing but a human pincushion. "Someone clean up that mess. I don't want to waste good weapons."
His command came a little too soon, because Iruka was still standing. His head was bowed down. He wasn't breathing, but he wasn't dead either. He was just holding his breath for a moment.
The cry started human, but by its end it was in the voice of an animal. A fearsome aura whipped up the air, surrounding Iruka, and his cry became a laugh. And with that red chakra came the impression in the minds of all the Sound-nins that the man they were facing was far stronger than they could ever hope to be. But then that was nothing they hadn't felt before, and they would not be deterred so easily. It would take more than that.
Iruka's red eyes looked at them, and his mouth curved at its ends. And then, that was when the kunai burst out of his body, propelled so fast that the shinobi unfortunate enough to be hit by them were left with gaping holes in what had used to be their bodies.
"I am the Immortal of Konoha. You can't kill me that easily."
He took one single step forward, and with that simple movement he broke the resolve of much of the enemy horde. Many of them lost their confidence right there and then, but not their leader. The rope running around his body looked like a snake, and his will was not so easily touched. "Do it again. He can't keep that up all day."
Once again the wave of kunai came for Uzumaki Iruka, though many of the blades were less precise now, the gift of their owners' new fear. But this time they did not reach their target.
Iruka jumped slightly into the air and spun, releasing chakra from all of his body's opening points and shouting "KAITEN!" as he did. Not a single one hit Iruka, not anywhere.
"Oh, and by the way," he said smugly, "You only hit me because I let you.
"Now, let's get started properly shall we?"
Author's Note: So, how did you enjoy that? As for what happens to Iruka next, well, you'll have to wait and see I'm afraid.
About the kiss – you'll find out about what it means later.
I don't really have much else to say, except to ask for reviews as always. So please review!