Disclaimer: Nope.

Iruka had the other man on the ground within a minute and sent an extra, petty kick down south for hurting a child he had come to care for dearly. It wasn't hard, really, when the man in question was focused on Naruto. That was the issue. He froze reflexively when a familiar chakra permeated the air. His eyes turn to Natsuki first before settling on the enraged Naruto who was now glowing faintly with excess chakra. Time stood still for a moment as he stared into the blue eyes as they slowly turned an angry red. The students were panicking now, having never experienced such high levels of chakra. Everyone but the Uchiha boy, who was still staring vacantly at Natsuki, started backing away. The teacher, for whom Iruka didn't even know the name, whimpered pathetically when he caught sight of the six-year-old.

Iruka couldn't move.

His hands were shaking, his heart was racing as his mind automatically went back to the horrible night.

But, Naruto wasn't the Kyuubi.

He took a deep breath and swallow heavily. It was difficult due to the oppressive chakra in the air, but he forces himself to calm down. In the wake of the Kyuubi attack, his sensei had put him through extensive training involving killing intent and how to react to oppressive chakra levels. He watched the blond, crouched defensively over is fallen twin, and focused on the memories he had of Naruto and Natsuki. The smiles, the laughs and the overwhelming guilt.

He managed to move his body just in time to block a kunai thrown at the twins from the window he just jumped from. He glared up at the shaking chunin who threw it for a brief moment before turning to Anbu appearing out of the woodwork. A group of three shuffled the other students away, while the others set up a perimeter.

"Please, don't h-hurt him." He took a deep breath, glancing one more time at the irate child. "Let me try and calm him down. P-Please."

The Anbu closest to him, a tall man with a dog mask, tilted his head in what Iruka hoped was consent. He took another breath and turned fully towards Naruto. The haze of red was still hovering around him, his whisker marks had darkened while becoming more ragged and his nails were extending into claws. In the back of his mind, Iruka marveled at the changes this excessive chakra could create in a human, but he ignored that and took a step forward.

Red eyes snapped towards him and the boy growled lowly.

He held his hands up slowly.

"Naruto. Naruto. I-It's okay. It's me, Iruka…" He didn't move forward again as Naruto watched him warily from his crouched position. Iruka glanced at Natsuki. He winced at the blood coating the ground around the child's head. He needed to calm Naruto down, quickly, for Natsuki.

He took a step forward.

"Naruto." He voice was more firm this time as he searched for any sign of the child he had come to know over the last several months. "Naruto, listen to me. I want to help Natsuki. He needs to go to the hospital to be healed."

He took another step.

Naruto growled loudly shifting slightly, but not moving away from Natsuki. One of Anbu moved to the side as if the flank the boy. The chakra in the air immediately seemed to tighten, nearly sending Iruka to the ground with its potency.

"S-stop!" He shouted. "S-Stay out of this!"

He knew, deep in his gut, if the Anbu interfered Naruto wouldn't make it out of this situation without injuries and Natsuki would only suffer more if he was left unattended longer due to a fight. He had to end this without violence. The twins had enough of that today.

"Naruto." He tried again, but Naruto would hear none of it. The boy launched toward the nearest Anbu. Iruka dove after him and pulled the blond boy to his chest wincing as the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra touched his skin, but not letting go.

"Naruto. Listen to me." He murmured softly into the soft blond hair even as his skin turned red as first degree burns started spreading on his hands and arms. "It's okay. Your brother will be okay, but you have to let us help you."

Sharp teeth sunk into his arm and he held back a curse.

This wasn't working…

"Naruto…?"

Iruka's head jerked up in sync with Naruto's.

Natsuki blinked slowing at the pair, from his position still sitting on the ground, taking in their position and Naruto's current features. He blinked once then smiled softly and opened his arms.

A softly spoken "Naruto" was all it took for the blond to dive into his twins arms, shoulders already shaking from heavy sobs as the red chakra dispersed. Iruka smiled in relief as he watched the sibling embrace. A hand landed on his shoulder, making him jump. He looked up and found the dog Anbu standing over him.

"Good job." The man's voice was intentionally gruff and Iruka grinned tiredly while wincing as the pain from his burnt hands and bite wound on his arm settled in his mind now that the panic was dispersing.

"I didn't really do anything." He murmured as he cupped his arm to trying and stem the bleeding.

"I think we should move everyone to the hospital now." The Anbu spoke quietly as his hands blurred through a serious of hands signs that apparently meant something to the Anbu still surrounding the place as they sprung into action, disappearing from Iruka's site as silent as they came. Two grabbed the still shaking instructor that started this whole situation and dragged him away.

The dog Anbu then walked over to the twins and knelt close to them as Natsuki's eyes focused on him over Naruto's shoulder.

"Come on kiddos. We need to take you guys and your sensei to the hospital."

"I-I'm not their sensei!" Iruka spluttered out.

The man tilted his head towards him and Iruka had a feeling he was laughing silently at him, but his voice was completely serious when he said with absolute certainty "After today you are."

Before he could question the mans' answer he was distracted by the watery blue eyes of the eldest Uzumaki twin. If his arm wasn't still bleeding quite profusely he would have scooped both the boys up and held them close. Instead, he smiled softly at the two.

"Come on boys, let's head over to the hospital, okay?"

Natsuki glanced worriedly at his brother and nodded solemnly despite being the first one to be injured. The Anbu picked both the boys up without preamble and the four of them took to the roof towards the hospital.

Iruka glanced down at the empty streets as a knot started to form in his stomach. The twins were okay, but he couldn't help but worry about the outcome of Naruto losing control of the Kyuubi's chakra. He bit his lip as he turned his gaze to the two boy's nestled safety in the Anbu's arms. He could only hope the Hokage would be able to handle this without putting the two through any more grief.

Hiruzen sighed deeply as the civilian council shouted over each other like children. There were times he honestly thought of some of these people as children, at times that was the only way he could understand their logic.

This was one of those times. After all, a student had been injured by an instructor and the council was trying to pin the blame on a child. He cast his gaze over the other shinobi in the room. Heads of families, the captain of the Anbu, the director of the TI department and others that formed the ninja council. They were more of a mixed bag over this issue. Which was both fortunate and unfortunate.

He sighed once more and tried to call the group to attention. It took a few tries to get the civilians to calm down, but once the room was silent again he frown in a patented expression of disapproval.

"A child was assaulted by a teacher," He flicked his gaze to each face in the room "…and you want to punish his brother."

It wasn't a question.

"The child, in question, houses half of the Nine-Tailed Fox. He nearly lost control in the presence of other children and injured a chunin while rabid."

He should have known Danzo wouldn't be on his side for this one. However, despite Danzo's words, he could see the skepticism on the faces of several key members. He settled back in his chair, if there was one thing being Hokage taught him it was to start the conversation and let it play out with little interference.

"The children were escorted away and no harm was done to them, other than being shaken over the whole situation. The chunin, one Iruka Umino, has released a statement to the TI department claiming that he willing put himself into the situation that led to his injuries and therefore the child, Naruto Uzumaki, is not to blame." Ibiki did not look up from the stack of papers sitting in from of him, but his voice was as firm as ever.

"I hardly think we can count the children as simply "shaken". They were exposed to the Kyuubi's chakra. A chakra that is known for its corrosive nature." Haishi replied just as firmly. Hiruzen noted silently to himself that the Hyuuga's eldest daughter was in that class along with many other clan children.

"Has your daughter experienced nausea, uncontrollable shaking, shortness of breath or other shock symptoms? If not, then I will continue to count her as shaken. None of the children has been hospitalized beside the Uzumaki twins and Umino at this point in time, therefore they will not be counted as casualties in my report." The director of the Torture and Interrogation Department was apparently not in the mood to be contradicted.

Hiruzen hid him smile with practiced ease. The man was gruff and intimidating, but he had always had a soft spot for Kushina. It warmed his heart that the man was now defending her sons.

Haishi expression didn't change, but his lips tightened slightly.

"The Uchiha boy was sent to the hospital." Danzo supplied mildly, his eye sharply assessing the mood of the people in the room.

"The healer that tended to Sasuke Uchiha reported that the boy suffered a mild panic attack coupled with a flashback due to seeing the younger Uzumaki injured at the hands of the instructor," Ibiki replied.

However, the civilian council started to look more angry at the mention of the Uchiha boy and other children.

"The children were right next to the monster. Who know what it could have done to them?" One murmured.

"Damn demon threatening our children, again." Another muttered while scowling.

"While we are on the subject of the instructor…" He spoke, guiding the conversation away from the twins smoothly. "Have you managed to pull a statement out of him as of yet? Is there a reason he attacked Natsuki Uzumaki in front of the rest of the class?"

Ibiki's perpetual frown deepened as his glance up at him. "He claims that the younger Uzumaki was mocking him in class and continuously refused to pay attention during his lectures. He apparently thought it was an appropriate punishment to use the boy as a lesson for the rest of the class by forcing him to spar him."

"Physical training doesn't start until later. Are you saying he made a child who was never taught to fight, spar him and didn't go easy on him?" Tsume, clan head of the Inuzuka, questioned loudly her eyebrow drawn down in confused frustration.

"Yes," Ibiki replied shuffling his papers briefly before seemingly finding the report he was looking for. "From what the healers were able to tell Natsuki Uzumaki received a severe head trauma from skull fracture along with a broken nose and abdominal bruising. However, the boy is fully healed now. The healers deduced that the half of the Kyuubi's chakra inside him sped up his healing to a phenomenal level. When entering the hospital he only had the bruising and that was quickly fading."

"Then what's the problem?! The demon brat is healed, the instructor did no lasting damage to him! If the thing was disrupting the class then it's what he deserves!"

"So, you think that physical punishment is acceptable?" Haishi murmured deathly soft, his eyes flashing dangerously. "You think that my daughter should be punished that way, should she ever step out of line? How about your son, he is in the class as well, is he not?"

The councilman, who had made the exclamation, shrunk back in his seat, flushing a dark shade of red. "N-no, but it w-was the demon b-brat."

"If it is acceptable for one child than it is acceptable for all the children." Hiruzen stepped in once more. "Frankly speaking, however, I do not think that is an acceptable punishment for a child much less an untrained child."

"Yes, the actions the instructor took were unprofessional for a teacher of Konoha. He should be reprimanded." Danzo interjected. "However, there is still the issue of the other child. Although there were no casualties, other than Umino, there was mass panic when the Kyuubi's chakra was felt by the nearby civilians, genin, and chunin. The circumstance are regrettable, but something must be done."

Murmurs of agreement filled the air and Hiruzen held back another sigh. This was the man's goal all along it seemed. He had no doubt his old friend would have made a "suggestion" of what he thinks should be done on the matter if Ibiki had not interjected once again.

"There is one other casualty, which my subordinates listed." Ibiki shifted his papers again. "The eldest Uzumaki, Naruto, has been hospitalized due to first and second-degree burns along his body. He also seems to be suffering from chakra exhaustion as well, therefore he was listed as a casualty."

"The other boy was fine within a half hour despite having a skull fracture and his twin can't heal a few burns?" Danzo asked mildly, his eye flashing.

Hiruzen had wondered how long he could get away with hiding this little fact about the twins. He supposed it was good that this came out now, instead of when the children began to learn how to utilize their chakra.

"The seal on the Natsuki is different from Naruto." All the eyes turned to him as he explained quietly. "From what I understand the pregnancy and birth itself were difficult for the mother. While Naruto was born very healthy and able to house half of the Kyuubi, Natsuki was born without functioning chakra system and very little chakra. When placing the other half of the Kyuubi inside him Minato adjusted the seal in order to allow him to use the Kyuubi's chakra as his own. The child was monitored for a full year after his birth and it seems the chakra adapted to his body shockingly well, and now functions as if it were his own. Naruto, on the other hand, has his own chakra reserves with the other half of the Kyuubi's chakra sealed tightly making his healing ability weaker than his brothers."

"Comparatively. A Uzumaki with a bijuu isn't exactly the standard for healing." Shikaku muttered his hands still folded over his eyes from when the civilian were shouting at one another.

"True. Their healing capability is unmatched." He conceded.

He nearly scowled when Danzo spoke up again, his single eye gleaming the same way they did when he "suggested" he keep his distance from the twins once they started the academy. "That seems to be rather dangerous. How do we know, Natsuki wouldn't lose control. It would be worse than his twins rage today. It seems we've been focusing on the wrong twin in terms of danger to the public."

Hiruzen closed his eyes briefly. He was too old for this political dance with words. This meeting was going nowhere and he was not going to play this game anymore. Not today.

"No. Minato Namikaze was a genius seal master taught by the best of the best. Natsuki is not a threat." He leveled a firm stare at all of the occupants of the room. "I think I've heard quite enough today. An instructor attacked an unarmed, untrained student, hurting him severely. His brother reacted naturally to the injustice and no one else was severely injured during his loss of control. In light of this incident, the instructor will be removed from his position and stripped of his titles. I will not have a man willing to put a child life in danger over mild disobedience anywhere near children, or even on active duty. The Uzumaki twins, being six years old, will not receive any punishment nor will they be removed from the school. They are the victims of this situation and I will not hear a word otherwise."

His declaration was met with protest, but he ignored it as he stood and made his way to the door. He had a pair of twins to visit and chunin to thank personally. He also had a certain instructor to talk to after he made sure the children were alright...

Shikamaru stared up at the ceiling blankly. His fingers laid on his chest in a familiar position as he sorted through the events of today. It had started out fairly normal but descended into a nightmare when he watched someone he had started to consider a friend beaten down by their instructor and his twin go completely rabid.

Shikamaru wasn't a stupid child.

From that moment forward his mind had continued to spin, piecing together the puzzle even as his mother clutched him to her chest and refused to leave him alone until it was time for bed. His mind never stopped analyzing and reanalyzing the situation.

Now, as he laid there unable to sleep, the puzzle was becoming clear.

Hi! The semester from hell is over, so I now have more time to write! Yay! Anywho here is chapter five. I'm working on chapter six now, along with an outline for the next couple chapters or more. Hopefully, that will make updating more regular. We'll have to see. I hope this chapter explains the state of Kurama "seal" a little bit more, but if you have some more questions feel free to ask. I promise more explanations with crop up later in the story, but essentially Kurama's seal is sort of for show at this point. He still uses his own chakra and, of course, possesses his mind and memories. The biggest restraint on him at this point is being stuck in a human body. (And, you know, having his soul ripped in half...geez no wonder the guy has issues :/)

Thank you so much for your lovely, lovely reviews. Seeing a new one always puts a smile on my face and inspires me to write even more. So, thank you!