Thanks soo much for the reviews! They were greatly appreciated! Anyway, here's the next chapter! Hope ya enjoy!

Takes place during/after the Chuunin Exams.

Warning: Semi-AUness. This will not follow the plotline or the storyline of Naruto. Iruka-centric… mostly.

"…" Talking

"…" thinking

/…/ Iruka and Shizuka talking through link. (I had to change it cuz it didn't show … I'll change the other chapters soon.)

XXX

Iruka groaned as the white sunlight streamed in from the hanging window above him. At that exact moment, his alarm clock went off, signaling that the time was 7 o'clock. Squinting his brown eyes open, he blinked a few times to get used to the sunlight. He yawned, stretching his arms above him and slowly sat up. "I only got 5 hours of sleep…" He sighed. "4 hours less than what I had hoped."

/Shizuka/ He muttered through the link. /Please be there… Shizuka! Where the hell are you/ He cursed silently, again. /This isn't a joke, you little idiot! You better be okay…/

He picked himself out of bed, albeit forcefully. He went around his small, but comfortable apartment, brushing his teeth, putting on his Chuunin clothes and such. He then fried an egg and two sausages from the batch of food he bought yesterday after dinner with Naruto. After making his coffee and putting the caffeine drink and his food on his breakfast table, he sat comfortably on one of his wooden chairs which were around his round table. As he chewed on his food and took an occasional sip at his drink, he couldn't help but feel loneliness creep up his body.

He sighed. "Why am I feeling this now? I've been alone since Shizuka left… maybe it's the possibility that I might really be alone, with no family members left… NO! Shizuka's not dead … think positive…"

He sighed; the feeling of dread ate up his hunger. Rubbing his temples, he activated the Kanazaki, feeling the familiar warm feeling and the sudden chakra surge. His plate and cup glowed orange as he moved it to the sink. Deactivating the Kanazaki, he thought, "I really should practice more … I haven't used the Kanazaki for a few months. Maybe I'll go and practice after teaching."

Iruka tied his brown hair into his normal ponytail. "This is one of the things that separate me from Shizuka I guess. Despite being fraternal twins, we actually look a lot alike. Except she likes her hair down and I like mine up."

Slipping his sandals on, he gathered his papers and headed out the door, locking the door in the process. Smiling contentedly, he walked his way towards the Academy, only to be bombarded physically by a hyperactive, blonde ninja.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelled happily. A window above Iruka popped open angrily, revealing an angry and tired citizen.

"Shut up you!" the man snarled. "Some of us are TRYING to sleep here!"

Naruto only stuck out his tongue at the man, who glared before closing his window. Naruto turned his bright cerulean eyes towards a sweatdropping Iruka. "Ne, ne Iruka-sensei!" He chirped happily. "Did you eat breakfast yet!"

Iruka smiled fondly at the boy. "Yeah, what are you doing up so early? Shouldn't you be home preparing for your next battle?"

Naruto nodded excitedly. "Yeah! But I can't train on an empty stomach! I'm headed towards Ichiraku's! I was just wondering if you would like to come with me! Cuz then, I'd pay for you, this time, I brought my WHOLE wallet with me! Look!" As if to prove to the brown-haired Chuunin that he in fact, DID bring his wallet, Naruto shoved his green frog pouch towards Iruka. "SEE! I can pay this time!"

Iruka smiled, inwardly sighing hopelessly at the boy's love for ramen. "It's alright Naruto, I already ate. I actually bought my food supply yesterday, unlike somebody here." At this, Iruka stared pointedly at the suddenly sheepish boy.

"The market ran out of instant ramen too," Naruto replied. "But they said they were going to get another huge batch of it today! So I'm going to get them today after I eat my breakfast! Then I'm gonna train a little bit before going to meet the others at the finals! I can't wait! I might even fight Sasuke-teme! I'm going to beat him once and for all! And then prove to him that I, Uzumaki Naruto, am not dead last and can and will be HOKAGE!"

"Uh, well, good luck, Naruto," Iruka said, grinning uncertainly. He patted Naruto's head affectionately. "Well, don't tell anyone, but I'll be rooting for you."

Naruto's eyes widened with surprise and happiness. "YOSH!" He jumped up with even more excitement. Iruka vaguely wondered how anybody could have so much energy in early morning. "I have Iruka- mhfffmmmmm!" Iruka hastily covered Naruto's, well, large mouth.

"Naruto, what happened to 'don't tell anyone'?'" Iruka whispered. "Just keep it a secret alright? I don't want anybody thinking I'm biased."

"Right!" Naruto said. He grinned his foxy grin and gave Iruka thumbs up. Then his grin faded a bit and was replaced with a troubled one. "Ne, Iruka-sensei, didn't your class start 10 minutes ago?"

Time seemed to freeze as Iruka looked at his watch, panicking. Naruto was right. His class started 10 minutes ago, or more precisely, 12 minutes and 15 seconds and counting. His eyes widened as he thought of Konohamaru and his pestering friends. "Oh crap!" He practically flew towards the Academy. "Bye Naruto, good luck!"

Naruto just stared at his favourite sensei's retreating back. "You know, that was the first time I heard Iruka-sensei curse."

XXX

Iruka finally reached his classroom door, and he calmly walked in as if nothing had happened, taking in every detail of the class. Konohamaru and his friends were talking animatedly in a corner; other students busied themselves with throwing airplanes. Looked like his normal class doing their normal things. But … Konohamaru has been glancing at Iruka and the ceiling above Iruka's desk for the past few seconds. He's up to something …

Iruka thought back of when he was a kid and when he was doing pranks. What had involved the ceiling above the teacher's desk? "There's like a million pranks that involved that!" "Konohamaru!" Iruka yelled.

"Yes, Iruka-sensei?" Konohamaru asked innocently.

"What did you do to the ceiling above my desk?"

Konohamaru winced. "Impossible! How could he have known!" "Nothing, Iruka-sensei!"

Glaring at the Sandaime's grandson, Iruka stared at the ceiling. Nothing looked out of place … but still, he wasn't going to try out the prank. He sighed, getting really, really tired of these pranks. He had had enough of it when Naruto started at the Academy. Now, right after Naruto graduated, came another prankster.

"Konohamaru…" Iruka's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. He was beginning to understand why his old sensei was so upset all the time. "GET RID OF THE PRANK AND MEET ME AND THE CLASS OUTSIDE! WE'RE ALL GOING TO HAVE A KUNAI-THROWING TEST THEN YOU WILL ALL RUN AROUND THE FIELD 85 TIMES!"

"WHAT!"

XXX

(An hour later)

"Konohamaru," Iruka sighed. "Come here."

Konohamaru gave Iruka a weird look before obliging to his commands. "Whaddaya want?"

"You're throwing the kunai wrong," Iruka explained. "Here, you're supposed to hold it a bit farther from the blade." Iruka showed Konohamaru the right way. During his test, Konohamaru had nearly sliced off half of Moegi's hair. "You fail for the time being. I'll let you off with a retest if you do well on it."

"Fine, fine," Konohamaru muttered, feeling guilty after Moegi had squealed and ran away while Iruka had caught the stray kunai expertly. "Can I do it tomorrow?"

"After class ends," Iruka confirmed. "Alright come here, all of you!" He called to the rest of the students. They gathered around quickly, and looked up at him expectantly. "Run around the field 85 times now, this is the punishment for the prank. And Konohamaru, if I find another prank, you and the rest of the class will be punished with a whole week of tests and quizzes."

The Academy Students grumbled noisily. "Eh, Konohamaru-chan," Moegi muttered. "I think we shouldn't do that again. You did put the prank down right? I don't think Iruka-sensei would appreciate flour and paint spilled on him."

"Ah, so it was that one," Iruka smiled inwardly. "All right, no chit chats now. Go now!"

Mumbling about unfairness, the students walked miserably towards the field while Iruka settled himself comfortably on the bench watching as the children started jogging around. Getting bored after a few laps, Iruka let his mind wander.

"I wonder how everybody's doing. I know Sakura's out. Sasuke's still in and Kakashi-san is training him. Naruto's been doing fine, as I thought. He is the student I recognize." Sighing, Iruka closed his eyes. "With the threat lying above their heads, I doubt they'll do something drastic… Might as well catch up on a bit of sleep, maybe…" He let his head drop down as his mind floated towards the subconscious.

XXX

"IRUKA-SENSEI!" A voice snapped Iruka from his beauty sleep. Iruka blinked sleepily at the blurry figure of Konohamaru, a panicking Konohamaru.

"What's the matter Konohamaru?" Iruka muttered sleepily.

"There's smoke coming out of there!"

Iruka's eyes immediately widened and he felt all feeling of sleepiness leave him. His eyes traveled to the place where Konohamaru was pointing at. There was indeed smoke coming out, and it was from the North Gates! He jumped up, headed back inside the Academy, calling out to the rest of them, "Come inside, don't just stand there!"

The children hustled inside quickly, right behind Iruka. Instantly, other shinobi quickly ran up towards them, informing them of what was happening. "Sand and Sound are attacking us!"

"What!" Iruka's eyes widened even more. "Where's the Hokage!"

"I don't know, but right now, we should concentrate on sending the citizens to safety!"

Iruka nodded, and quickly ushered his students towards the Hokage Monument. "Iruka-sensei, what's happening?" Konohamaru asked quietly, knowing it was a serious situation where he couldn't kid around.

"We're being attacked," Iruka answered. "Quickly, come on!" Kids gasped as they absorbed the information.

"A-attacked!" Konohamaru exclaimed. "By who? Where's Grandpa!"

"I don't know," Iruka gritted out. "He'll be fine, he's the Hokage. Plus the other jounins and ANBU are protecting him."

Konohamaru gulped, worried about his grandfather. Iruka saw and gave him an affectionate pat before ushering them into the small huts on the side of the Hokage Monument. "Iruka-sensei…?"

"Don't worry," Iruka muttered. "I'm sure he's fine."

Soon, the huts began to fill with citizens and some shinobi guarded the entrance and to keep watch for the opposing forces. Iruka fidgeted, remembering that the Hokage had told him to help out if Konoha were to be attacked. "But the situation isn't too bad is it? Is it horrible enough for me to use the Kanazaki? But I'm worried for the Hokage. He's getting old, and his chakra wasn't where it used to be." He glanced at Konohamaru then all around the hut. "And half of the citizens haven't reached here yet. It probably would be best if I did help out…"

"Konohamaru," Iruka muttered to the little boy. "Stay put, I'm going to look around." The prankster looked up in surprise. "I'll be back soon. Just stay here and don't go outside, alright?"

Konohamaru nodded. "Alright, I promise."

"Good," Iruka smiled slightly, then walked over to the guard of the entrance to his hut. "Kotetsu-san." The guard turned around. "Excuse me, I'm going out."

Kotetsu merely nodded and stepped aside, letting Iruka pass. Iruka nodded back and walked through the door, then he ran quickly, jumping past rooftops and occasionally helping out running citizens. He finally reached his destination, his apartment.

Quickly going through his door, he went to his bedroom cabinet, opened it and pulled out a bluish-black cloak with the Konoha sign on the back and a porcelain cat mask. "Well isn't this a great disguise." Ignoring his sarcastic thought, Iruka quickly slipped the mask and the cloak on over his Chuunin uniform, making sure to put on his hood. Reaching back in the cabinet, he pulled out a katana and strapped it to his waist.

Wasting no time, Iruka jumped out his window, breaking it in the process. Quickly, he turned towards the stadium, knowing that the Sandaime would be around that area. He hopped over rooftops, his heart beating fast. "Relax, Iruka. This is the Sandaime, a Hokage. He'll be fine." But still, a strong feeling of fear still filled his body.

"Look what we got here," a voice from below him said arrogantly. Iruka turned around and saw a woman and her son being trapped between two Sand shinobi. "Don't think you're going to escape."

Frowning disapprovingly, Iruka instantly threw two kunai. The two shinobi instantly jumped aside and threw their own shuriken and kunai at him. Dodging them all, Iruka wasted no time in activating the Kanazaki.

"What the-?" the older of the two gasped. An orange glow surrounded Iruka and he welcomed the sudden surge of chakra. Picking up the thrown shuriken with his mind, Iruka made them fly suddenly back towards their owners. The two shinobi managed to dodge most of them before their shock got to them. "A Hazaki clan member?"

Iruka frowned. "I thought we weren't well known." He froze the two shinobi up, paralyzing them from any other movement. The younger of the two was already halfway through a flurry of seals and the older one was getting more shuriken from his holster. Iruka quickly threw two kunai, which pierced the two's hearts before they could realize it.

The woman and her son quickly ran away from the battlefield. Iruka watched them for a moment, considering if he should follow them. But he decided against it, and quickly ran towards his destination. Knowing that if he kept his Kanazaki on for too long, he deactivated it quickly.

He received many odd looks from Konoha shinobi, as they had never seen the cloak before. The Sandaime had chosen that cloak specifically so he could recognize him easily.

In record time, Iruka landed beside the ANBU members, looking up at the purple barrier surrounding the Hokage and a mysterious figure.

He felt the ANBU's gaze on him, but he ignored it, as he concentrated on the purple barrier. He knew he could disable it, using the Kanazaki. He could control the movement of the four shinobi in the corner and use them to cancel it. But before he could activate his Kanazaki, he caught the Sandaime staring at him.

And to his horror, he watched as the Sandaime slowly shook his head slightly, a small movement. The ANBU looked at Sandaime in a confused manner, but Iruka understood. The Sandaime didn't want him interfering. Iruka stared back at him, not moving a muscle, refusing to leave. But the Sandaime was stubborn and once again shook his head. Iruka still stood there, not moving a muscle. Sarutobi got annoyed, it seemed, and gave Iruka a warning glare.

Clenching his fist, Iruka knew he had to obey. It was a direct order from the Hokage, something he couldn't refuse. This was the Sandaime's choice. Swiftly, Iruka turned around, and headed back. "Why did you stop me?"

XXX

End of Chapter 3.

Sorry, it's late, but I can't write fight scenes, as you can probably see. And the ending's a bit rushed too. Ah… I hope you still enjoyed it, nonetheless.

Please review!