Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, some mild to moderate character bashing where unavoidable (mostly Dumbledore & Danzou with some Sakura & potentially lots of Sasuke), alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), OCC behaviors and personalities, a number of original characters and obscure canon characters to flesh out family trees, random chosen last names to give a number of characters surnames, and who knows what else.
AN1: Partial credit for the Story Prompt/Challenge used to create this story goes to the Guru of Challenges; Challenge King. For details, see the first author's note at the top of the first chapter.
AN2: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Of Pranks, Compromises, and Obstructions
May 21, 1990, 09:49 AM
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni
Elemental Nations
"Are we done with the boring stuff yet?" Naruto demanded when none of the adults spoke up after right after Koneko's last question had been answered. "'Cause we've been here for hours doing nuthin' but talking and I'm starving because you rushed us out the door this morning before I could have a proper breakfast, Koneko-chan."
"You were far from starved this morning, Whiskers; you consumed six large bowls of cereal."
"So? That was still hours ago!"
"Stop hollering and wriggling, 'Ruto; I'm trying to sleep," Haruo ordered in a whiney growl as he jabbed Naruto in the side twice before he shifted around until he was half sprawled across Naruto's lap with his face buried against Naruto's stomach.
Naruto let out a resigned sigh and slumped back against the back of the couch; he was stuck there now. At least he was until Haruo woke up from his nap. A frown worked its way onto Naruto's face as he recalled just why his best friend was currently sleeping on him once again. Not only had Haruo been woken up by nightmares during the night, he'd been exhausted by whatever it was that the flea bitten dog disguised as a man had done to fix him. Letting out a soft sigh, Naruto half draped himself over his best friend and wondered why it always seemed like the world was out to get them.
If people weren't hounding him and trying to beat him up because of the damned fox, they were after Haruo because he was Naruto's friend or because they were jealous of the younger boy.
And now it seemed like other Trueborns had it out for Haruo for some reason.
Naruto's attention was drawn back to the adults when the man with the scars on his face (whose name he'd forgotten) asked, "Did you have any other questions, Mr. Kuma?"
"Just one; will Haruo's core stabilize itself now that the remnants of the bindings have been removed?"
"Yes, it should; since his core didn't appear to bear any permanent scars. His core is also still flexible enough to bounce back from the trauma that had been inflicted upon it by both the bindings and the rather violent method with which those bindings had been broken. Just don't expect it to happen over night; it will take time for his core to recover."
Naruto felt more than a little relief over hearing scar-man's answer; he had been worried about Haruo after all that talk about trauma, bindings, damage, messed up magic, and what not. He may not have followed the entire conversation (parts of it had been dead boring) but he'd paid enough attention to know that he hadn't liked what some of it might mean for his friend. The blond's attention was once again dragged out of his thoughts when a shadow fell over him just seconds before he felt something cold wash over him.
Snapping his head up, he found the still orange, flea bitten man grinning over him with his stick out and he couldn't help but scowl as he tried to figure out why the guy was so happy. Before he could work things out, the man spoke up and addressed Haruo's father, "You know, I think the purple punk is onto something. I'm starving and since we're done here, I say we go grab some grub."
Naruto opened his mouth to agree with the guy only to snap it shut when his brain finally registered the purple comment and he snapped his head down to stare at his clothes and hands in horror; he'd been turned purple!
"GAH!" Naruto yelped in a high pitch voice as he tried to scrub the purple off of him; his movements and his loud cry waking Haruo up with a jolt and the younger boy just blinked at him for all of two seconds before he began giggling.
Naruto pouted at his friend even as the currently pink Genin gasped out, "You're almost a dead ringer for Ino's twin now! All you need is to die your hair blond again!"
"This… this means war! Dattebayo!"
"Not while you're grounded, it doesn't," Kuma blandly corrected around what suspiciously sounded like a laugh to the purple-fied Naruto and the blond scowled at the man in response to the reminder over that particular part of his and Haruo's current punishment before he turned to glare up at the fleabag that had colored him such a girly color. The man had the gall to just smirk at him in return.
"Don't give me that look, punk; I'd be a pretty poor godfather if I ignored a simple, harmless request from my godson."
The reminder that it had been Haruo that had suggested his new color had him turning to his friend only for him to grin when he saw that the younger boy was tiredly holding up the hand sign for the word payback. He knew Haruo was referring to them getting payback on the man that had turned them pink and purple and not saying that his request for the dog-man to turn Naruto purple was payback. Knowing his friend already had a plan in mind, Naruto turned to grin up at the man still standing over him gloating.
The guy never saw the second glitter bomb that hit him and for the second time that day, the dog-in-human-disguise was covered from head to toe in green glitter. The stunned look of resignation on the guy's face was so worth the blow back from the bomb that had covered both him and Haruo in glitter as well. Haruo probably would have complained about it if it wasn't for the fact that his friend had closed his eyes and dozed off once more.
"Sirius, don't even think about starting a prank war! It's been less than an hour since you pulled the remnants of those bindings from Harry's core, for Merlin's sake! He's not in any condition to participate in an all out war of idiocy right now!" the scar-man chided in an exasperated tone.
"That's fine; that just gives me more time to plan my revenge," the dog-man, Sirius, slowly drawled before he shook himself like a dog; a good portion of the glitter on him flying about in all directions. Once he was done, the man glanced back at Koneko and asked, "So, about that food?"
"Flaunting your relationship to Haruo by openly parading about the village in his company will defeat the purpose of keeping your relationship to him hidden from the public," Kuma pointed out and Naruto could practically feel the disapproval pouring from the older shinobi.
"We don't have to venture into the more populated areas," the scar-man countered before the other man could explode in anger. "There has to be an abandoned park or some other little used place where we can hang out for a few more hours and have a picnic or something. And it's possible for us to disguise ourselves for the outing so that we can avoid being seen with Haruo and still spend time with him. Additionally, providing Har…Haruo with an early lunch will help him replenish his energy reserves so that he'll be able to function during his community service work this afternoon."
"Almost no one goes up to the top of the Hokage's Monument and you can see the whole village from up there," Naruto interjected before Koneko could find a reason to shoot the scar-man's idea down; he didn't want to be stuck inside all morning when they were already going to be stuck at the Academy all afternoon.
"We could even split up into two groups to further reduce the chances of Sirius's relationship with Haruo being advertised to the village at large," scar-man added in a reasonable tone. "You can take Haruo, Uzumaki-kun, and Sirius up to the top of the Hokage's Monument or another suitable place while the other 'you' can lead me to the closest restaurant to pick up some takeaway before guiding me to wherever the rest of you end up."
Instead of immediately approving or disapproving the suggested compromise, Kuma stared at the other two men for a long minute before he shifted so he could lean down to lightly tug on Haruo's foot. Haruo growled irritably at being disturbed yet again and a second tug on his foot had the nine year old lift his head up to glare at his father. Naruto would have snickered at his best friend if not for the fact that he knew Haruo would prank him for it later just as soon as they were no longer grounded.
As soon as he was sure he had Haruo's attention, Kuma inquired, "It's your choice, Haruo; do you want to hang out with your godfather and his friend for the rest of the morning or did you wish to go home and sleep until it's time for you to head to the Academy?"
Haruo wrinkled his nose up and plopped back down on Naruto before he grumbled, "I don't care; Naruto can pick."
"Picnic!" Naruto immediately declared the moment Haruo told him to choose. "I can carry Haruo up to the top of the monument and he can nap in the trees that are up on the cliff since you wouldn't let him visit his garden this morning like we planned to. It'd be better than being stuck inside all morning."
"Very well," Kuma grudgingly allowed as he stood up and scooped Haruo up off of the couch.
"Oi! I said I was going to carry Haruo!"
"You can hardly carry Haruo and walk the dog at the same time."
Naruto blinked at Koneko-chan before he turned to smirk at the now worried Sirius; he could forgive Haruo's father in light of the chance the man had just given him to torment the other man. Scar-man coughed to cover up a laugh at his friend's obvious distress and Sirius shot his friend an annoyed look that only earned him a bland smile from the other man. Naruto snickered at the byplay between the two men as he brought his fingers up to create another Kage Bunshin so he could have it henge into a leash for the dog-man.
"My revenge shall be glorious and you shall weep over your well deserved punishment and proclaim me the god of pranksters by the time I am done with you," Sirius gravely informed Naruto and Kuma as he brushed off as much of the green glitter as he could to avoid getting it stuck in his fur once he changed.
Naruto narrowed his eyes in response to the casual (and rather silly) threat before he snootily countered, "You're far too old and flea-bitten to be a real prankster god. I bet you haven't even registered with the KPA as an official prankster; meaning you could never hope to rise above the rank of amateur prankster peon since everyone knows that the only professional pranksters in Konoha are the official members of the KPA."
"Pish-posh, what a load of tosh! Nothing tops being a member of the legendary Marauders! And I, little punk, am a Marauder!"
"You look more like a dork to me," Naruto drawled as he smirked at the orange and green man.
"Padfoot, you're wasting time," scar-man (who no longer looked like himself – a simple trick that even a shinobi could pull off with a henge and so barely phased either pre-teen) interjected before Sirius could make a retort.
The dog-man pouted for all of two seconds before he transformed into an orange and green dog and Naruto promptly snapped his clone-leash into place around the dog's neck. The dog retaliated by licking Naruto on the face and the twelve year old gave voice to a cry of disgust as he shoved the dog away from him. The man- turned-dog barked out a laugh and opened his mouth wide in a doggy-grin as his tongue flopped out of his mouth. Naruto swore vengeance as he scrubbed the dog spit from his face.
"Ikuzo, Whiskers," Kuma ordered before Naruto could even think about retaliating in turn. Naruto rolled his eyes and let out a huff before he obediently dragged the dog-i-fied man to the door. As he opened the door to leave the room, Kuma addressed him once last time and instructed, "Take the shortest route to the Monument once you get outside; we'll follow you from the rooftops."
"Hai, Koneko-chan!"
May 21, 1990, 10:03 AM
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni
Elemental Nations
In between attempts to wrap the blond's legs up in his 'leash' and pretending to chase after cats and kids alike, Sirius couldn't help but notice the glares that were sent his way. Or, rather, the glares that were aimed at the blond that was walking his doggish-self through the streets. Sirius might not be the brightest Lumos in the bunch and Azkaban had seriously eroded his sanity alongside the loss of his anchor but he was far from stupid. He'd seen looks like those on the faces of his mother and less likable cousins enough to know that a good number of people living in this village didn't like his godson's best friend.
Whiskers did an admirable job of ignoring the looks but even Sirius could tell the kid hated being glared at.
As he let the purple-punk drag him away from a tasty strawberry and green tea ice cream cone that some kid had dropped on the ground when his mother had jerked him away from Padfoot and the blond, Sirius wondered if Haruo also got those kinds of looks from the people on the street. He certainly hoped not; though, he wasn't naïve enough to think that what affected the blond didn't affect his godson. James and Remus (and Peter too but he wasn't going to count the traitor any more) had been treated with the same disdain that Sirius had received from the less pleasant members of his family.
Of course, that probably had more to do with pureblood propaganda and the Dark Lord's growing movement at the time than it had with them getting caught up in his family's fits of mental instability due to his friends' association with him.
What had happened to him and his friends was beside the point though; this was about Haruo potentially (more like undoubtedly) being glared at because people didn't like his friend for some reason. And it wasn't because the blond was a prankster. Sirius knew the difference between the annoyed glare of a recently pranked victim and the spiteful glare of someone who hated your entire existence. He'd had plenty of experience learning to identify miffed prank victims during his seven years at Hogwarts. Glorious days, those.
The past didn't distract Sirius for long this time; he was far too focused on the injustice of his godson being on the receiving end of any glares. Just thinking about people glaring at his godson for no good reason (there was never a good reason to hate a kid – unless said kid's name was Snivellus and had a love of the Dark Arts) made the dog animagus's blood boil. No one had the right to glare at his godson like he was a piece of crap.
Unconsciously, Sirius growled at the next person he saw glaring at the boy holding his leash; the sound of the deep rumble in his chest startling both the blond and the adult that had been glaring at the blond. The man's eyes jerked down to the (admittedly far less intimidating dog – no one took orange seriously; just look at the Canons!) transformed wizard and immediately paled when Sirius growled a second time. The man would hastily back up, send one last sneering glare at whiskers, and then run away from the mismatched pair – purple, orange, and green so did not go together.
"Don't do that, dattebayo!" Whiskers hissed under his breath as he yanked a little hard on the leash to bring the still bristling Sirius to heel. "Are you looking to get us in trouble!?" Sirius stopped growling and sent the brat an annoyed look; why was the punk getting all bent out of shape over him scaring the jerk that had been glaring at him? "I'm a shinobi, fleabag – we're not allowed to pick on civilians!"
Sirius grumbled under his breath but didn't growl at any one else; he didn't want to get the punk in trouble – that would just make Haruo mad at him. He did, however, glare back at each person who glared at the brat; something that actually saw the people around them giving them a far wider berth. Ten minutes later, when they reached the less populated streets and the number of glares dropped down to almost nothing, Sirius resumed his playful pranks as his anger fled as quickly as it had risen.
Whiskers gave back as good as he got; the brat repeatedly attempting to push Sirius's doggy face into all manner of gross things or tripping him up with the leash – four legs and a tail were far harder to keep track of than two legs and the hand holding the leash.
By the time they reached the top of the Hokage Monument some twenty minutes later, Sirius was gasping for breath and practically being carried by Harry's best friend; the steep stairs leading up to the top of the mountain had all but killed him – not even Hogwarts had had that many stairs! He didn't even care that the blond didn't bother to take the leash off of him as he flopped down on his belly and gasped for breath. He'd have stayed there in the dirt for the rest of the day if it wasn't for Cat-Face and Harry joining them less than a minute after he and the punk had reached the top.
His godson was out cold (not surprising given just how many remnants Sirius had had to pull from the nine year old's stressed core) and Sirius waited just long enough for Cat-Face to settle Harry on the ground at the base of a tree before he crawled over and curled himself around the sleeping nine year old. Harry unconsciously snuggled into his warm fur (much like he used to do when he was a baby) and Padfoot let out a sigh of contentment as he finally felt like all was right in the world again.
Cat-Face gave him the stink eye for a moment but since the man wasn't trying to chase him away, he ignored the jerk.
Nothing mattered but the small, warm body using his stomach as a pillow.
May 21, 1990, 12:05 PM
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni
Elemental Nations
To say that Sasuke was having a bad day would have been a gross understatement.
It had started when he'd rolled out of bed shortly before dawn and got dressed for his morning training only to find that his utility pouch was missing. He knew he'd set it out on top of his clean clothes before he'd gone to bed but it had vanished sometime after he'd gone to bed and before he'd gotten up. If that wasn't bad enough, all of his spare shinobi equipment had gone missing as well. That wouldn't deter him from taijutsu and ninjutsu training though and after wasting precious time looking for his missing things, he'd stomped off to his private training ground.
Only to find that some jerk had sealed said training ground with a barrier that he couldn't bring down. His one attempt to slip into the deserted Uchiha Compound to use one the clan's training grounds (something he hated doing because all he saw each time he set foot in there nowadays was his memories of the dead strewn all about the Compound) had failed as well due to it being sealed off with a barrier as well. The entire Compound had been sealed, actually, and he'd wasted a full hour trying to find a way in.
Upon returning home to eat breakfast, Sasuke's already bad morning had taken a turn for the worse when he found all of his training equipment right where it belonged. Someone had been playing with him! He wanted to immediately blame his stupid, useless teammates but he knew that the dobe and the baby had no idea where he lived. They were also far too stupid to have followed him home to find out where he lived; with how loud and bright they both were, he'd have seen and heard them from a mile away.
Even worse than the knowledge that someone was playing with him was the revelation that all of the tomatoes in his refrigerator and in his garden had disappeared while he'd been out. He'd tried leaving and coming back hoping whoever had taken them would return them the moment he left (like they obviously had with his gear) but that had failed. He'd left the place for real at that point and stalked to the nearest grocery store in an attempt to buy some for breakfast but none of the stores he'd visited had had a single damned tomato for sale!
It was galling!
At that point, he'd been forced to abandon his attempts to buy breakfast when his idiot sensei had hunted him down to 'escort' him to the Academy for his 'punishment'. If that hadn't been bad enough, Stupid-Hatake-I'm-Always-Late-And-Suck-As-A-Teacher-Kakashi had stuck around to 'babysit' him to make certain he didn't take off. Oh, he didn't follow Sasuke into the building but every time Sasuke looked out a window, he'd see the damned Jounin sitting directly in his line of sight reading that stupid orange book of his.
If that hadn't been bad enough, he'd been forced to spend the rest of the morning taking a stupid test that had been given to him by the Chuunin Instructor that was supposed to be supervising his 'community service'. He'd already graduated from the Academy, he shouldn't need to take any more stupid written tests. He was Rookie of the Year (there was no way some stupid baby nearly beat him out of that title) and that meant he was the best of the best! As was only befitting an Uchiha like him. He'd be even better if people weren't constantly trying to hold him back!
Like stupid Kakashi.
Damn that man for snubbing him.
He should have been training Sasuke exclusively! Not wasting Sasuke's time on baby tricks that wouldn't be of any use to him if he ever wanted to kill Itachi.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes in thought as he turned the corner to head to the farmer's market so he could hunt down some fresh tomatoes for his lunch. Maybe Kakashi was intentionally trying to keep Sasuke weak because he didn't want Sasuke to get strong enough to take back the eye the man stole from a member of his clan. He didn't care what Kakashi had claimed; there was no way any Uchiha would ever gift one of their precious eyes to anyone. And even if there had been an Uchiha that was that stupid, he would have gifted it to another Uchiha – not an outsider.
Well, Sasuke would just have to grow stronger on his own. He'd teach them all. He'd grow powerful and then he'd avenge his clan.
At that precise moment, Sasuke's stomach let out a loud growl as his hunger made itself known and the preteen wrapped his arms around his stomach as a wave of weakness passed through him. First, he needed food. Then he could worry about his training. There'd be time enough to get stronger once he'd filled his belly properly. All he needed was to pick a few tomatoes first, because no meal was complete with a fresh tomato to go with it.
Unfortunately for Sasuke, there would be no tomatoes to be found; not even at the restaurant he'd stopped to eat at when his hunger became too much for him to ignore. He wanted his tomatoes, damn it!
May 21, 1990, 01:05 PM
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni
Elemental Nations
Iruka frowned at the clock as he noted that Naruto and Haruo were five minutes late. It wasn't like either boy to turn up late; Haruo's love of numbers and counting tended to equate to the younger boy consistently getting him and his friend to their various appointments several minutes early unless he was dragging his heels and then they'd be exactly on time. Though, he supposed it was possible that they had picked up that bad habit from Kakashi. The Jounin was well known for being late to everything.
So, the fact that Naruto and Haruo still hadn't shown up for their afternoon community service worried Iruka rather than frustrated him since something serious had to have happened if the boys were running late.
He was just about ready to ask one of the other instructors to watch his class so that he could track down the wayward pair when the front door opened to disgorge the oddest quartet. The first through the door was a very purple Naruto with a very orange and very large dog (its shoulders were level with Naruto's chest) that glittered with speckles of green when the light hit its fur; the two connected by a sturdy leash that was also wrapped around Naruto's left ankle. Right behind those two was a very normal looking Kuma with a very pink and very much asleep Haruo securely cradled in his arms.
After seeing Naruto and Haruo in shinobi blue the last few times he'd seen them, seeing the two Genin in such… bright colors threw Iruka off for several seconds. And then his lips began to twitch with amusement when he realized that it wasn't just the boys' clothes that were so colorful; it was their hair and skin too. It appeared as if some clever body had managed to prank the two pranksters. That or it was entirely possible that one of their own pranks had blown up in their faces – quite literally in this case given the current colors of the standard uniforms they were wearing.
Iruka felt rather torn between amusement and exasperation when it occurred to him that the two troublemakers might have been late because they were out pranking. And while he knew they weren't allowed to prank while they were grounded, he also knew them well enough that refraining from pranking for an entire week had probably been far too difficult to accomplish. It was also entirely possible that the reason Kuma was with the boys now when he hadn't been with them the previous times they arrived for their services hours was because the man had caught them in the act.
"Sumimasen, Umino-san," Kuma promptly declared as the doors swung shut behind him. "We ran into a slight snag on the way here when the mutt that the boys were dog-sitting this morning refused to leave Haruo's side. His owner was amused enough by the mutt's antics that he allowed himself to be talked into letting the boys watch over him the rest of the afternoon before they take him back home. Though, if you believe the mutt's presence will be a distraction I'd be happy to remove him so that he won't interfere with your afternoon lessons."
"I don't foresee a problem with the dog loitering about, Kuma; I'm used to the odd animal hanging around Haruo when he's in class and the presence of another ninken will not disrupt my lessons," Iruka replied after glancing at the dog in question to find it staring up at him with far too human eyes that were filled with intelligence and mischief; a clear indication that the dog was not an ordinary pet.
"If you're sure," Kuma grudgingly returned and Iruka got the distinct impression that the man had been hoping that he would refuse to allow the dog to stay.
"If there's nothing else; then I'd best get these two outside so I can start the lesson before my current troublemakers take my tardiness as an excuse to ditch class for the rest of the afternoon."
"Actually, there is one last thing you need to know," Kuma interjected before Iruka could make an attempt to collect the still sleeping boy snugly secured in his arms. "It was recently discovered that the two back to back cases of extreme chakra exhaustion he suffered through during his most recent mission triggered a few health complications that stemmed from a childhood… malady that had gone unnoticed and untreated until this morning when a specialist was brought in to examine him in light of his slow recovery from his second bout of chakra exhaustion."
Iruka immediately grew concerned as he looked at the sleeping Haruo in a new light. His eyes finally noticing the slight pinched expression on the young Genin's face, the fact that his muscles were tense even in his sleep, and the way the pink tinge of his skin was just a shade lighter than his clothes and hair – all three signs an indication that the nine year old was not in perfect health at the moment.
The concerned Chuunin opened his mouth to ask if the specialist had been able to successfully treat the malady only to snap it shut again when Kuma continued, "The malady has been… cured and Haruo is expected to make a full recovery in time. However, the… cure took a bit of a toll on Haruo and his… reserves and as a result he is currently experiencing another mild case of exhaustion and feeling rather sore. He was strongly advised to avoid both physically exertion and those situations that could cause him emotional stress for the next couple of days as a result."
"Is Haruo going to be postponing his community service for a couple of days then?"
"Iie, attempting to separate the two of them while Haruo sleeps off his exhaustion will only stress him out needlessly and pulling both boys from their community service just to coop them up in their apartment for a couple of days while Haruo recovers will only give them time to get themselves into more trouble. However, if Haruo is unable to wake up enough to complete his four hours of service this afternoon, then I'll tack on an extra day to their required week of service so that he can make up the time once he's no longer exhausted."
Iruka considered what he'd just learned for a brief moment before he firmly stated, "If you've already admitted it might be necessary to add a day to allow him to make up any time he's missed, then there's no reason to prolong his recovery by pushing him to attempt to put in his required four hours today. It's far more important for him to get the rest he needs now than it is to reinforce the lesson the boys were meant to learn from the punishments that you assigned them for their misbehavior when he won't be in any fit state to appreciate the lesson he's being taught."
Kuma considered his words for a moment before he inclined his head and conceded, "I believe you have a point, Umino-san; though, I'm certain that Haruo will disagree once he learns his community service has been extended a full day."
"Don't worry, we'll just prank ya both for it later," Naruto interjected as he shoved the dog the two Genin were dog-sitting off his foot with a grunt.
"Just like old times then, ne?" Iruka quipped around a laugh as he fondly (and in a few cases, not so fondly) recalled all of the pranks the two friends had carried out during their years at the Academy. He then returned his attention to Kuma and instructed, "If you'll pass the snoozing gaki to me, I'll settle him in an out of way spot on the training grounds so he can sleep undisturbed while I start the students' taijutsu lesson."
Kuma hesitated for a brief moment, the man oddly casting a look at the dog before he complied and handed Haruo off to the Chuunin. Just before the ANBU Captain departed, he looked right at the dog and all but growled, "Best behavior or this won't happen again, mutt."
The dog's response was to blow a raspberry at Kuma before Iruka swore he saw the dog flip the other man the bird; he eventually dismissed the odd behavior from his mind as he bid Kuma good day and escorted Naruto and the dog out into the training yard while doing his best not to wake Haruo. As soon as he stepped outside, Iruka stepped into the expected chaos that unsupervised children often descended into but he ignored it for the moment as he carried Haruo over to the line of trees that bordered the training yard.
Naruto readily trailed after him while all but dragging the dog with him. The dog would immediately curl around the sleeping Haruo as soon as Iruka settled the exhausted Genin against a tree that was halfway between the taijutsu training circles and the shurikenjutsu targets where he would be safe from mislaunched kunai and shuriken. Naruto then created a pair of Kage Bunshin to watch over his sleeping friend before he allowed Iruka to usher over to where his class was goofing around.
"Settle down!" Iruka barked just loud enough to be heard over the noise; the Chuunin for once not activating the genjutsu that made it look like his head swelled up lest the genjutsu's ability to magnify the volume of his voice wake Haruo up.
"You're late, sensei!" Konohamaru yelled back in the sudden silence.
Iruka ignored the accusation (true though it was) as he instructed, "Everyone line up in front of the left hand taijutsu ring so we can get started!"
"What? Why only one line? Did my rivals runaway in fear of facing me again?" Konohamaru demanded in an overly smug tone.
"You wish, pipsqueak," Naruto snorted as he stepped into the left-hand ring to wait for his first opponent.
"Ha, ha, ha! You're all purple! What did you do? Fall in a can of paint!?"
"Where's Haruo?" Moegi curiously inquired as she and several of the other girls in the class craned their heads back and forth in search of the younger Genin.
"Genin Haruo will not be assisting me with your lessons this afternoon."
"What? Why not? How am I supposed to kick his butt if I can't fight him!?" Konohamaru cried in dismay as his laughter over Naruto's current coloring abruptly cut off.
"As if," Naruto quipped and Konohamaru whipped his head around to scowl at him.
"Enough! Everyone line up! We're already running late and if you're not in line in the next minute, I'm going to keep the entire class after school this afternoon in order to make up time!" Iruka bellowed in annoyance over the unnecessary drama that Konohamaru insisted on initiating every afternoon ever since the first time Naruto and Haruo had assisted him in their lessons.
There was a mad scramble as the children pushed and shoved each other in their hurry to get in line and Iruka would have smirked in response to their reaction to his threat if it wouldn't have been unprofessional of him. Once he saw everyone was moving, he gestured for the first student in line to enter the ring with Naruto so he could start the first match even though half the class was still scrambling to line up. There was no sense in waiting for them to fall into place though; it would take far too much time and he'd already lost fifteen minutes of class time.
Throughout the rest of the afternoon, Iruka would ride herd on his students and keep a discreet eye on Haruo to make certain the younger boy was not disturbed and to ensure that no health complications associated with the treatment he'd received for the unnamed malady Kuma had mentioned were missed during his watch.
He'd hate to earn Kuma's ire if anything happened to the man's son while he was in Iruka's care.
Translations: English to Japanese
Hai – yes
Iie – no
Ikuzo – let's go
Oi – hey
Notes:
KPA – Konoha's Prankster Association: this bit of silliness will soon be explained during the Chuunin Exam Arc, the Invasion Arc, or in the currently unnamed Arc that comes right after the Invasion Arc; not sure at this point since I've not yet written any of those Arcs out yet.
AN: Oddly enough, this wasn't the chapter I'd originally planned to get up next; that was supposed to be the next chapter of Magic Online but my muse for that story is not cooperating with me right now so I put in some time to work on this one instead. I suppose I should just be glad that I actually have yet another chapter to post so soon after the last two updates I posted.
Anyway, notes…
First, alongside this chapter, I replaced chaps 34, 35, & 36 with minor edits and note removals with chapter 36 also having roughly 100 words of new content added in order to fix a very minor plot hole that was more of a plot bump that just needed to be smoothed out. The bit I added was just to clarify the reason why Haruo could grow wooden clones but not grow wooden beams while his magical core had been bound and it was added towards the end of the chap.
Next, this Arc has roughly six more chaps outlined to tie up a few things; including a long awaited look at what's been happening back in the wizarding world in regards to fallout from Sirius's recent 'death' – that chap will be the final chap of this arc. I'll also be introducing a few plot twists that will explain a few things and set up a few scenes that will take place later in the story.
And lastly, update projections.
I've already started the next chapter of this story but it currently has less than 500 words; so, no promises on when I'll be updating this story again. I also don't know which story I'll be updating next though I have been trying to get the next chapters for 'Magic Online' and 'Hunter x in the x Making' done so that I can update both of those stories soon.
Banished Destiny, which is still sitting a mere 2-3 chapters away from completion, is still stalled as well and I'm seriously considering going back and extracting all plots surrounding the Hallows in order to move the story along so that I can wrap it up. The only reason why I haven't done that already is because of how much work it will be to extract those bits. On the plus side, I've just about finished the new cover for Banished Destiny and should have that up by the end of the month.
And that wraps that up… Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter and hope you'll accept these virtual pumpkin pies as an apology gift for not updating sooner. I thought about making pumpkin pasties instead but didn't feel like looking up the recipe after all the work I put in to finish this chapter. ~ Jenn