Title: Stop…Restart It – Naruto

Fandom: Naruto

Characters: Iruka, Ibiki, Sparrow

Chapter: 19

Word Count: 1895

Warnings: nothing
AN: I know, I know, I went and forgot posting this for a long time. I am horribly sorry but RL got in the way of posting. That does happen sometimes. And unfortunately it hit me hard.

Remember that I do have a Miraculous Ladybug and Bleach crossover called Shifting Tides posted if you are interested.

Enjoy.


Ibiki stared at Sparrow as he finished writing out his report, Iruka sitting at his desk and going over the papers of his students. "We really need to speak with the Hokage about changing things around when it comes to what our students are learning," the scarred nin muttered at a piece of paper.

"What do you mean by that, Umino-san?" Ibiki asked, curious about what was going on in the chunin's head.

"I'm turning out cannon fodder here. At least on the civilian family based students," Iruka snorted, tossing the essay in his hand onto the desk, grunting softly. "By the time that I get them in their second year, if not their third year, they have bad habits that I just don't have enough time to drag out of them. Their aim sucks, they don't know enough of the history of our village to be any use, and their diplomacy is non-existent. It hurts to see them try to be diplomatic or just think that they don't have to be."

"I remember taking those classes," Sparrow snorted. "They drilled that shit into our heads and made sure that we knew it. What happened to them?" he asked.

"They stopped them from happening nearly four years ago," Iruka sighed, shaking his head. "So we have two generation of civilian nin who have no idea what it means to know when to keep their mouths shut and when not to," he said, handing the essay to Ibiki. "This is one of said civilian family nins that I was talking about. I told them to write an essay about how to act when it came to a high powered, paying customer and a lower powered but still paying customer. They're idiots."

Reading over the file, Ibiki frowned and before growling. "If he did this, he would cause an diplomatic incident if not a call for war," he stated, shaking his head. "I'll speak with the Hokage about getting the curriculum overhauled and the power for such things to be returned to the Hokage," he stated, looking to Iruka. "Can you hand me the rest of the essays?" he asked, taking them and sealing them quickly.

"I'll just tell my students that their essays would have caused so many problems that they all failed. Even the clan family students were failing. Except Hanabi. She just came across as lofty instead of causing a major incident. She'd probably just annoy them instead," Iruka drawled as he pushed away from his desk and waved towards the small room to the side. "Tea?"

"Please," Ibiki replied, standing and following after Iruka. It was looking as if he was going to have some major work in making sure that the future generations of nins were smart. Starting with the set that Iruka was currently working on. He had a feeling that they would be held back for six months of intense retraining but it would only benefit the village. More so if they were able to more people to actually past the real genin test.

But first they would need to start dealing with the council, maybe looking over the laws that had been passed in the last few years. He had a feeling that if they had to clean it, it would take a few years to do if they couldn't do it out in the open.

Sighing, the scarred male sat down in the seat when Iruka waved at it, Sparrow sitting in his own as their chunin companion move to make tea for the three of them. "This is going to cause a lot of fuss," Sparrow drawled, as he stared at his boss through his mask.

"Not as much as the fact that the Hokage is thinking of having to force either Jiraiya or Tsunade back to the village to take his place is going to cause," Ibiki sighed, Iruka tilting his head as he made the tea. "He's not getting any younger and if Kakashi could be trusted, he would be next in line. But since he really can't be trusted to do what needs to be done right now, it's Jiraiya or Tsunade if we don't want someone like Danzo taking over."

"That man needs to be hung and quartered," Iruka snorted, getting a smirk from Ibiki. "I dislike the way he watches my students. I've been able to keep him away from them but after they graduate it's not like I can do much unless they come back for more training," he sighed. "Tea." He handed the cups to the other two men while taking his own seat. "Aren't we here to talk about the progress of Team 7?" he asked.

"We are," Sparrow said in return, nodding his head. "They're doing surprisingly well but I'm still on the fence about Uchiha and Haruno."

"I've heard that Sasuke is doing what his position entails," Iruka said as he stirred a bit of honey powder into his tea, and kept stirring when it frothed at him. "But that he's not as focused as he should be?" he asked, looking to Sparrow.

"You're right. Ever since he was told he couldn't get a sponser much less a tutor the way Naruto has, he hasn't been focusing as much as he needs to. I know that Kakashi is about to just out and out kick his ass for his bullshit," Sparrow snorted, shaking his head as he sighed into his teacup, smiling when Iruka closed his eyes and turned his head. "Thank you for the tea. What kind is it?" he asked.

"Lemon pie. It's an import from a small family that plays with tea flavors and the such. The local tea market buys some when they come into season. They've discovered that they should stock a lot though," Iruka chuckled, tasting the tea with a hum. "Now, about Sasuke. I've learned that he hates to be told no. His brother is amazingly strong but he still knew the word no, unlike our young Uchiha. Sasuke has always been told that he could have whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it. Annoying really."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Ibiki grunted. "The kid is going to have to be told the truth of the massacre…" he mused.

"Oh you mean that Itachi was to kill those who were apart of the coup but found that someone had killed the rest of the clan beyond Sasuke?" Iruka asked, cocking an eyebrow when the two nin before him stared at him. "Don't worry about that getting out. No one can get it out of me and this room is covered in specialized privacy seals," he stated.

"How can you know that?" Sparrow asked. Iruka played with his cup as he stared at it with some sadness.

"Itachi and I are only a few years apart all things considered. I worked on a few missions with him, before and during his time in ANBU, and we became something akin to friendly. He would come to my place to get away from his family and I would give him creative ideas to use during his missions by doing 'what if' situation runs," he admitted, shrugging. "He told me that he had a hard job to do. That he had to take out the ones who created rot in the village. After that...it wasn't hard to put two and two together."

"And no one can get it out of you?" Ibiki asked, blinking at the sad chunin before him. Sparrow leant forward as Iruka put his tea cup down and pulled his flak jacket off, tugging his shirt up just enough to expose a tiny seal on his side, just above his hip bone.

"It was put into place by Jiraiya-sama when I talked with the Hokage about what I had figured out. If someone tries to get information about the massacre out of me and they don't know the truth, I could activate it and it would send me into a catatonic state for a short time. If they shut my chakra down, again I'm sent into a catatonic state until my chakra is returned," Iruka said, shrugging with a smile. "This goes for any kind of information that I can't let out."

"You're good," Sparrow chuckled, shaking his head. "Our ANBU tattoos act much like that but to know that a chunin willingly took one on? That takes guts."

"Hurt like a bitch for a week after," Iruka admitted, shrugging. "But to tell Sasuke is to really turn his entire world upside down since there's only suppositions as to who really killed the rest of his clan."

"True but I think that it would do him some good," Sparrow admitted, looking to Ibiki who nodded. "I'll speak with Kakashi and the Hokage when I can about that."

"Do so. Tell us about Haruno. How is her training?" Ibiki asked, tapping his finger on his leg as Iruka smoothed his clothes back into place.

"She's doing better. She is going back over theory and actually expanding what she learned and practices with the advice and watchful eye of Kakashi," Sparrow said, smirking behind his mask. "She still stalks the Uchiha, but only for about an hour or so now. She's working on building up what she neglected in the academy so it is looking good for her. She has some pinpoint chakra control so I think that she should be tapped for some medic training. Even minor training will help her reserves to."

"I'll talk to a few of my friends who are looking to take up teaching instead of working on in the hospital," Iruka promised, Sparrow nodding his head with a smirk. "And Naruto is still learning and expanding at leaps and bounds?" he asked.

"I have a feeling that he'll make chunin if not this next round, then the round after," Sparrow stated.

"He's doing good. What are you going to do with him?" Ibiki asked, sitting back in his seat and staring at his young ANBU.

"I plan on making him my apprentice. And later when he makes jounin, he'll be one of my go-to jounin partners if he doesn't' take up an ANBU mask," Sparrow admitted, shrugging. "He's good with his ninjutsu and taijutsu, can dispel and create genjutsu, has better control over his chakra, is learning how to think like a shinobi should, and he's poking around into fuinjutsus. Mostly because the Hokage gave him a basic scroll on his family's style of seals. Once he proves that he's mastered the first steps, he'll get another scroll, as agreed upon by his parents and put into their wills."

"I bet you he becomes a master before he turns twenty," Iruka chuckled as he finished his tea. "And hokage before twenty-five, if not sooner."

"Oh, he'll do that and so much more, Iruka-san. He has a great future ahead of him," Ibiki smirked, eyes flaring. "And he has the backing of every single ANBU now. Those who are still active and those who have long since retired know what he can do now that he's under Sparrow's teachings. We can't wait to see what he does."

"Well, it'll be surprising to the rest of the world, that's for sure," Iruka cackled, shaking his head. Ibiki stifled the need to pounce the cackling chunin and calmly sipped his tea.