Disclaimer – Is there a movie coming out about Izumo? Hmmm, well then I guess I still don't own Naruto. I do own a dead plant though.

I am following the MANGA dialog for the near infamous chuunin exam confrontation scene. This is the first place where I am breaking from Anime continuity solely because the 2 scenes are mutually exclusive, but the differences are minor

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Water Runs Red – Chapter 13

The next morning, Kakashi was eating breakfast at the break room in the administrative building. He wasn't there so much to eat breakfast, as he was to see who showed up in the room. He was looking for a chance to hunt down either Genma or Izumo or Kotetsu. As he sat there eating a bagel and reading his book, he paused to think about what he would say if he saw any of them. It was still early so he knew several people would be stopping by. Ninja might be good at taking care of themselves out in the field, but few mastered such domestic tasks as breakfast, especially when free warm food was readily available.

Snacking on a bagel while reading Icha Icha was not the worst of things that could be happening after all. He saw Asuma and Kurenai walk in together; did those two seriously think they were fooling anyone? This was a village of ninja. Everyone knew. They had to know that everyone knew. Asuma saw him and started to make their way over towards the table where Kakashi was sitting. Mentally Kakashi swore, he didn't want to run into those two, he was going to try and get Iruka information and having the two most anti-Iruka people Kakashi knew of sitting at his table wasn't going to help.

Asuma plopped down in a chair, "Hey Kakashi."

Without even putting down his book, he simply said "Yo." As he flipped a page.

Kurenai sat down, "Are you putting your team through the exam?" She sounded annoyed to Kakashi's ears.

"Yes."

Asuma grunted, "That makes all nine of the rookies."

"It's a surprise." Kurenai didn't sound happy about that surprise.

"A surprise?" Kakashi lowered his book to look at her.

"Considering." She didn't look like she wanted to elaborate.

"Considering what?"

"Kakashi," Asuma interrupted, "Lets just drop it, OK?"

Kakashi sighed and went back to reading his book, "I didn't start it."

Kakashi sensed a familiar presence and looked up to see Iruka walking into the room with his arms full of scrolls. He was still wearing the jeans and T-shirt from the night before, but had a forehead protector on and his hair up in a ponytail. The blond ends of his hair were also gone, evidently by cutting since it seemed there was less hair in the ponytail than normal. Kakashi was pretty sure he had been here all night.

Iruka walked straight over to his table, "Yuhi-sensei, Sarutobi-sensei, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi smiled at Iruka, making sure his visible eye curved a bit so the chuunin would know he was smiling. Asuma just looked up at Iruka, and Kurenai didn't even look up. "Sorry for interrupting you, but these are for each of you in preparation for the meeting today." He handed each of them a scroll neatly labeled with their names, actually, he placed Kurenai's on the table since she didn't hold her hand out for her scroll.

"Iruka-sensei, thank you. Have you had breakfast yet?" Kakashi gestured to an empty chair next to him.

"Ah, no not yet. Oh! Excuse me, I'll be right back."

He quickly walked over to Ibiki who had just walked into the room and started to have a conversation with him while handing over a couple of the scrolls he was carrying. Without even breaking stride in his conversation with Ibiki, he handed a scroll to Hayate as the man walked into the room. Kakashi noted this left Iruka with only one scroll in his arms still.

While Iruka was talking to Ibiki, Kurenai muttered to Asuma, almost soft enough for Kakashi not to hear, "What is he doing bothering Ibiki."

Asuma muttered, "He never did know his place."

Kakashi looked up, "I'm not deaf." He closed his book, "Besides, if you thought before speaking, you'd realize that the Hokage has Iruka doing the administrative work of the Chuunin exam, thus he gave us our information in reference to our Genin teams. The logical guess would be that Ibiki is also involved in the exam in some way since Iruka is obviously taking care of the organization for the exams. Most people don't stay up all night working when it isn't important."

Iruka left Ibiki and grabbed some coffee before walking back to Kakashi's table, "Kakashi-san, you wouldn't know where I could find Gai-sensei?"

Kakashi shook his head and stood up, "No, but I wanted to speak to you in private."

He walked with Iruka out of the room, not bothering to look back at his table companions. They walked down a side hallway before Kakashi stopped him, placing his hand on Iruka's shoulder, "They're giving me a hard time about you."

Iruka smiled sadly, "I'm sorry. I understand." He gave Kakashi a quick, shallow bow, "Thank you for telling me privately."

It took a second for Kakashi to realize what Iruka meant, "I'm just telling you, I'm not backing out of our date or anything." When Iruka paused, Kakashi continues, "I don't think they're right, but if they are, then we should call it off, if they're wrong then screw them."

Iruka looked up at Kakashi, pausing. "Umm, if I don't know what they are saying, how do I know if it is true?"

Kakashi reached back and scratched the back of his neck, "Oh yeah. That your interest is just to check of Hatake Kakashi in some erotic version of a bingo book"

Iruka blinked. Then Iruka tried not to smile. Very quickly, Iruka completely failed and started to laugh. "Worried the infamous copy-nin is going to be taken down by a chuunin?" He grabbed the front of Kakashi's shirt and pulled him towards him, bringing his mouth right next to his exposed ear. His voice was soft when he whispered, lips just brushing Kakashi's ear, "I'm not saying I'm in love with you, but I promise I'm not toying with you. Maybe there won't be a third date, maybe there will be, I don't know. My intentions are not what they think they are."

With that, Iruka stepped back and looked at Kakashi, "We'll talk over dinner tonight, OK?" He smiled, "I need to get this to Gai-sensei and I need to get a shower and a uniform before the meeting in three hours."

Kakashi nodded and watched as Iruka ran off. He was still bothered, but the chuunin's words had reassured him to an extent. Maybe Kurenai was just that off base on this one.

Kakashi set his team to training before heading into the meeting; he was actually early … well early for him. He was only five minutes late and these things never started on time anyways.

Kakashi spent the first portion of the meeting just watching who else was here. He didn't know a lot of the other jonin sensei beyond names heard in conversation. He knew Gai, of course, and Asuma and Kurenai, but the others he didn't know. Sure he'd seen them around, but he didn't –know- them. Genma and Hayate were there as well, as was Ibiki and Anko. Raidou was off in a corner. That was it for people he had ever worked with. Iruka was standing towards the back of the room. The blank look on the chuunin's face pretty much confirmed to Kakashi that the man was napping with his eyes open and standing.

The Hokage was going on about the chuunin exams and then he was asking for the rookie Genin-sensei to report. "You may begin Kakashi."

Kakashi straightened up and said the words according to proper form. "Cell number 7 led by Kakashi, consists of Uchia Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Hanuro Sakura. I vow upon the honor of my clan, the Hatake That all three of them are ready for the chuunin selection exam"

He heard Iruka suddenly straighten and gasp, "What!" He definitely didn't sound excited like Kakashi had hoped.

With a slight noise of annoyance, Kurenai said her speech, "Cell number 8, Led by Kurenai, consists of Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. I vow upon the honor of my own clan, the Yuhi, that I am as certain as my esteemed colleague is that all three are ready for the chuunin selection exam." The sarcasm on 'esteemed colleague' was not missed on Kakashi.

Quickly, before Kakashi could say anything to Kurenai, Asuma said his lines too, "Cell number 10, Led by Asuma, consists of Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Choji. I vow upon my clan the Sarutobi, that I am equally as certain that all three are ready for the chuunin selection exam."

The Hokage glanced from Iruka to the three jonin-sensei, "How unusual for all three of you to have unhesitantly assented…"

Iruka cleared his throat, "J-Just a moment."

The Hokage looked over at Iruka, "Yes Iruka?"

Iruka straightened up and slipped into extremely formal speech structure. If it was from anyone less known for following rules, it would have almost been insulting, "Hokage-sama, please allow me to speak. Forgive me if I overstep but all of the nin students just named were my students while they were at the academy. Certainly, they are all gifted and show both commitment and talent … But it is too soon for kids that young to be stepping up to chuunin level. Only with time will they have the kind of experience and maturity that those exams require. I don't see why their sensei can't see that." He glanced at Kakashi has he said it, his eyes almost pleading to say it was a joke or something.

Kakashi was torn about what to do. The kids were ready. He knew Iruka had a hard time seeing that people were ready. He was treating his comrades with the same kid gloves he was trying to treat these Genin with. Kakashi knew this was going to go bad, but it had to be done. Iruka had to stop thinking he had to protect everyone to the point they couldn't grow. "I was six years younger than Naruto when I attained the rank of Chuunin, Iruka."

Kakashi could see the betrayal in Iruka's eyes as he paled, "Naruto's not like you. Do you want to destroy those children? You all know what they call the chuunin selection exams, don't you?"

Kurenai glared at Kakashi. He had to put an end to this and quick before it got ugly. Iruka was temperamental to begin with, but Iruka with no sleep and too much caffeine was something not many people wanted to go off. "They gripe about every detail of every mission. Just for once, I think it would do them good to find out what real pain is. Let's admit it, breaking them would be fun."

Humor evidently wasn't going to work and Kakashi realized his mistake, but too late to correct it. Iruka's hands curled into fists, "Are you out of your mind?"

Kakashi took a deep breath and tried his best to diffuse the wound up chuunin, "It was a joke Iruka-sensei. I understand you… and I'm sorry if my recommendation upsets you, but I stand by it."

Iruka stuttered, "But…"

Kurenai glared at Kakashi again and in her most bitchy voice, "Kakashi, can we finish with this?"

Kakashi tried to give Iruka a 'we'll talk later' look and put the matter to rest. "It's none of your business anyway… They're not your students anymore. They are solders under my command."

Asuma muttered under his breath, "What a pest."

Iruka just gave Kakashi a very pissed off look, turned, and walked out of the room. Ibiki and Anko's eyes widened as they watched Iruka leave, then both of them glanced at Kakashi. Nothing more was said and the meeting continued with Gai saying his students were also ready.

Kakashi blanked out during the rest of the meeting, all he could think about was how pissed Iruka looked.

Once the meeting was over Kurenai gave Kakashi a smile, "See I knew you'd wise up eventually."

"Kurenai, Fuck you." Kakashi was suddenly saved by having to confront Kurenai or Asuma any more by Ibiki calling out, "Kakashi." Without a second's hesitation, Kakashi quickly walked over to speak to Ibiki.

Ibiki lead him off to an empty corner of the room, delivering glares at anyone who was showing too much interest in what was going on – namely at Kurinei and Asuma.

When he spoke, his tone was quiet and he was making sure his lips could not be viewed by anyone still in the room. "Kakashi. Quit fighting with Iruka. We got the message decoded and something is going to happen at the chuunin exam. We don't know when, but if you see anything suspicious, I need to know right away. I'll be running the first exam. Since you have a team in the completion, I want you to see what you can find out about the other sensei."

Kakashi nodded, "Of course."

Kakashi teleported out of the room, not so much because Asuma and Kurenai were standing by the doorway, but he was just the type to poof in and out of rooms. Doors were for lesser ninja – or at least ninja that didn't have a red-eyed psycho waiting for them to approach said door.

From his new vantage point on the roof, Kakashi sat down. He hid his chakra and decided he needed to think this through. On an almost autopilot he gave his students their chuunin applications, delighting that at least his actions had caused some happiness. Once he was out of their sight, he summoned Pakkun.

Pakkun took one look around and rolled his pug eyes, "Not again?"

"Just find him."

Pakkun started walking to find the chuunin's scent, "You know, this isn't healthy."

"I made him mad, so I need to go talk to him."

Soon, Pakkun caught the chuunin's scent and started to lead Kakashi out past the training grounds. The trees got thicker as they approached a small pond. Kakashi masked his chakra as Pakkun and he approached the pond. Iruka was sitting in the center of the pond, cross-legged with his eyes closed. He was using chakra to keep himself on the surface of the water.

Kakashi hid behind a bush and watched as Iruka remained in the center of the pond without moving. The water under him started to move, a rhythmic vibration to its surface. Slowly the water under Iruka started to rotate clockwise. After a few minutes of clockwise rotation, the water stopped and started to rotate counter-clockwise. Through out it all, Iruka remained sitting without any expression on his face.

The water calmed again and then it started to ripple. As if raindrops were hitting the surface. It was then that Kakashi noticed the weakness in the motion. The circle was no longer perfectly round. Iruka's face became more determined and the circle started to even out. As the circle evened the ripple affect became sporadic. Iruka's face relaxed and the circle flattened, becoming perfectly still water again. The circular motions resumed before the circle once again rippling in an imitation of rain. This time the circle remained perfect and the rain effect became stronger.

Iruka let out a deep breath and the rain affect stopped. The circle of smoothness expanded, rushing out in all directions as it faded. Iruka turned and looked at Kakashi has his awareness passed over the man, noticing him watching him, "How long have you been there?"

Pakkun muttered something under his breath, which Kakashi managed not to hear.

"A few minutes." He stepped out from behind the bush with Pakkun at his heels. "What were you doing?"

Iruka walked over towards the bank of the pond, the chakra in his feet keeping him from falling through the surface of the water. Kakashi could tell the other man was drained, "Chakra exercise."

"It's impressive."

Iruka shrugged, "It's just the same principle we all use to walk across water."

Kakashi nodded, he wasn't going to argue with the chuunin about something like this, "Did Ibiki talk to you about keeping your eyes open?"

Iruka nodded, "I assume you are the jonin-sensei he decided to use to keep an eye on the other ones?"

Kakashi nodded, "Look, I'm sorry about surprising you with the nomination."

Iruka shook his head, "No, I should be the one apologizing for letting my temper get to me. Look, this isn't going to work."

"The chuunin exam?"

Iruka sighed and looked up at the sky, "No, I shouldn't have asked you out for drinks. Let's just pretend it never happened."

Kakashi suddenly realized he was being dumped. Without even getting to go on a complete date, he was getting dumped.

"Because of Kurenai?"

"Because this is too much trouble for something that's not going to work out anyways." Iruka glanced down, meeting Pakkun's eyes. For once, the Pug was quiet.

"What do you mean, not going to work out?"

"I decided I can't quit working for Ibiki."

"Why would that change anything?"

"Kakashi, listen to me. The best thing for you to do is just drop it. Splitting the jonin-sensei based upon who likes me and who doesn't was never my intention. We cannot have that type of divisiveness right now. Something bad is going to happen and we can not have anything stupid hampering our ability to deal with it."

"I'm an adult, Iruka. I can make my own decisions."

Iruka glared at him, "Kakashi, I am too. If I say it's over, it's over. I am going to go and get a few hours sleep before I leave on a mission."

Iruka bowed politely and then walked off, his attitude showing this conversation was over. Pakkun looked up at his master, "I see."

Kakashi looked down at Pakkun, "You do? I sure don't"

Pakkun shrugged, the gesture looking oddly human between the jacket he wore and the forehead protector around his neck, "I should have know you wouldn't be acting like a fool over someone common. His chakra control is amazing."

Kakashi sighed, "Yeah. We have work to do. Iruka is right; something is up with these Chuunin exams." He trudged off towards the village, determined to keep an eye out for whatever was going on. The walk back to the village seemed to take much longer than normal. He wasn't sure why Iruka calling things off seemed to be affecting him so much, it wasn't like him. He decided the best thing he could do was to get a listing of which teams were competing once it was released in the morning and to start investigating each of the jonin-sensei. At least he had something to keep his mind off of Iruka.

-------------------- Notes --------------------

Ahhh Poor Iruka and Kakashi, can they ever get together? Guess not! Oh well maybe they will, but not right now. evil giggle

I know after all the NOT doing water references what do I do to let Iruka calm down, yep … play with water. Iruka has –very- good chakra control, but he doesn't have near the level of Kakashi. However, as has been pointed out with Sakura many times, if you control it well you can get the same results with less.