A/N: Okay, I lied. This is another short chapter. Looks like the first few probably will be short while I set things up. Thank you to both of my reviewers:
elvesdragon - it's good to know that you like my little stories. Thank you yet again.
And RandomReviewer - wow. Thank you - I liked the start of it too. The majority of this probably won't be quite so... whatever that was, but hopefully there will be parts that turn out that well. I am taking your advice on the paragraph thing - that kind of criticism is exactly what I need. Feel free to ramble away - I don't mind if you tell me I'm awful as long as you tell me why. And no, this isn't going to be KakaIru. I'll read the pairing if it's part of a good story, but I doubt you'll ever see me write them as anything but friends. Anyway, I hope I can continue to live up to your good impression.
Rated: T for language and non-graphic violence. Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize. Now, read and review please. Or just read. Enjoy.
Returning from dropping a feverish child off with the Academy nurse, Iruka stopped dead in his tracks. He imagined he must look pretty stupid, standing in the middle of an empty hall, but… Brown eyes carefully searched the faint chakra threads running over the door. 'Intact,' he thought warily. 'So no one has opened the door or windows. Still… it's much too quiet in there. I wonder what they've got for me this time?'Because after two months, his oh-so-innocent students had just enough training to start thinking that they could 'get' their teacher. Thus began the series of traps and pranks that would plague said teacher until the class graduated. After which, of course, the next class he was assigned to would begin the cycle anew.
Still eyeing the door with the utmost suspicion, Iruka nonetheless took a deep breath and reached for the handle. The moment he pulled it open, motion at the edge of his vision sent the Chunin diving into an evasive roll, only to spring to his left as soon as he came up. As the paper wheels and spitballs hit harmlessly against the walls, Iruka put his hands firmly on his hips and gave a look to the suddenly meek children. "Alright" he demanded, glancing at the very basic projectile traps he had triggered by opening the door. "Who rigged this? Come on, fess up." Naturally, no one said a word.
Iruka shook his head with a sigh and pointed to three boys and one girl. "Daichi-kun, Takeshi-kun, Yori-kun, Jun-chan, you each owe me ten lines of 'I will not set traps that throw things at Sensei'." The four named children promptly began to protest, but Iruka held up one hand. "I know you did it, and since you denied it you each can write twenty lines of 'I will not lie to Sensei'. No buts." Once the four's spluttering died down, a moment of silence reigned. Iruka simply stood, calmly waiting to see if any of his students would ask the proper question.
Hesitantly, the other girl in the class raised her hand. "Yes, Usagi-chan?"
The six year old fumbled her words slightly, but she asked the question he had hoped one of them would think of. "Um, Sensei… how did you know that they did it?"
His entire body language shifted as Iruka beamed at the child. "A ninja must always be aware of his – or her – surroundings, Usagi-chan." he informed her, fighting the urge to chuckle as the other children leaned forward to hear his explanation. "You see," he continued, pointing as needed, "Daichi-kun and Takeshi-kun's fingers are wet. The two of them are responsible for the spitballs. Yori-kun has bits of paper on the ground around his desk that wasn't there when I left the room, so he had to have given the other two the paper. And Jun-chan has pieces of paper torn out of her notebook, but no paper bits on the ground – she folded the paper wheels."
Turning back to the blackboard, Iruka allowed a smug little grin to escape for a moment as his students whispered in awe behind him. There was more than one way to teach a lesson in observation.
-
'Damn,' the man thought, eyeing the door of his newly re-opened shop – or more specifically, the man who had just walked out of it – with irritation. 'Ever since that ANBU girl got away, he's been absolutely paranoid.' He sighed. 'Well, hell, at least the other one isn't fazed. Of course, that one creeps me out sometimes, worse than most ninjas. No one like –' His train of thought was abruptly interrupted as he felt something tap the back of his neck.
He jerked away, clapped a hand to his nape, and glared as the youngest of the three partners laughed lightly. "You should pay more attention – if I was a snake I would've bit you." the other teased, eyes shining with mischief.
He grunted, but removed his hand, still glaring slightly at the one that he had been promised would recruit all the help that they would need to leave Konoha wide open to attack. "Well, how do you like Konoha?"
The Recruiter flashed him a mega-watt grin and, just for an instant, those bright eyes turned… strange. That look somehow held both a feverish brightness and the sharp, cold edge of a sociopath. He suppressed a shiver as the Recruiter spoke. "Oh, it's great! I've already made a few new friends."
-
Iruka stopped. He stared. He blinked a few times. And stared some more. Closed his eyes for a moment – and nearly jumped out of his skin when he opened them again and found that the ANBU officer who had been leaning against his apartment window six feet away was now about six inches away from him. He had never heard the man move. Iruka blinked stupidly a few more times in confusion before he finally recovered enough wits to speak. "Can I help you, ANBU-san?"
He would never know for sure, but he could have sworn that the dark eyes behind that white mask were laughing at him. The man's voice, however, was nothing short of coolly professional. "Hokage-sama wishes to speak with you." And just like that, the man was gone.
Iruka stood still for another few seconds before he mused quietly to himself. "Oo-kaay… and it requires ANBU to inform me of that?"
-
The blonde woman stared at her linked fingers as if they could absolve her from the unpleasant duty ahead of her. Her brown eyes were serious and no little bit irritated. 'Being the Hokage is rarely worth the headaches that come with it,' she thought cynically. 'But I'll be damned if I'll screw the job up. Even if that blond brat did sucker me into it.' A light knock on her door drew her attention away from her hapless hands. After a called permission, a scarred Chunin walked into her office, confusion and curiosity warring in his eyes.
Tsunade blocked the irritation out of her eyes and carefully studied her guest as he obeyed her gesture to pull up a chair across the desk. 'Umino, Iruka. He doesn't look like much' she mused. 'But, he was the first to accept Naruto despite the Kyuubi, even though he has as much reason to hate the fox as any other villager. And Sensei did trust him to oversee the evacuation during the war. So, maybe there's more to the little teacher than there seems…'
The man in front of her sat attentively, leaning forward slightly with his hands clasped and resting on his knees, but there was no nervousness in his posture. His shoulders and spine were relaxed, but without the disrespectful unconcern that some Jounin – a specific Copy Ninja came immediately to mind – slouched with. All in all, he almost seemed… comfortable, in her office. She met his eyes only to see that, while the curiosity was still there, the confusion had been replaced by a mild amusement. Taking her gaze as permission to speak, the Chunin broke the silence, his mild voice respectful. "You called for me, Hokage-sama?"
She briefly tapped a seal on her desk, activating the jutsu that would ensure that no sound escaped the office. And then she leaned forward slightly, eyes firmly on the Chunin as she spoke. "Umino-san, this does not go beyond this room, but there is a matter that I believe you need to be aware of." Instantly that relaxed appearance vanished, the Chunin suddenly less Academy teacher and more Konoha shinobi. Tsunade nodded almost imperceptibly in approval before continuing. "Two months ago, an ANBU agent reported the presence of one – or possibly more than one – traitor within our city."
The Chunin's jaw clenched lightly, his dark eyes flashing at the statement. A traitor was the worst kind of enemy – and the kind that most angered any Konoha shinobi. "It is believed that this traitor intends to somehow provide an enemy with entrance to Konoha. Unfortunately, our agent passed away before being able to impart any specifics regarding the matter. And despite ongoing investigation, no further information has come to light. In other words, Umino-san, that threat is still at large."
The anger she expected, the careful thought did not surprise her. The Chunin's words, however, were another story. "There are one or two individuals that I've been keeping an eye on, but… I don't think either of them are anywhere near the point of being ready to act out, much less actually betray Ko-"
"Umino, what the hell are you talking about?" Tsunade interrupted, somewhat confused and not at all happy about it.
The Chunin blinked in surprise. "Um, I was trying to see if any of the people I'm aware of could be involved. I thought that that was why you called me. Considering my last mission, I assumed…" The man trailed off, looking at his leader in confusion before flushing slightly and murmuring "A-s-s-u-m-e makes an ass out of you and me."
Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "Explain, Umino. Now. What last mission, and how is it relevant to this situation?"
The man dropped his eyes, suddenly finding his feet to be fascinating. His blush intensified as he spoke. "Well, it's just… I'm Iruka-sensei, Hokage-sama. I'm… a teacher of children, a desk worker. I've been those things for so long, most people don't think of me as a shinobi. Most of my comrades would laugh if anyone suggested sending me on any kind of mission. And because of that – because they think of me as harmless – a lot of people talk around me as if I were a civilian. They say things that they normally wouldn't say around a shinobi, because to them, I'm not. I'm just… Iruka."
He fidgeted a little under the Hokage's intense focus, but the Chunin took a deep breath and continued. "A few years back, I commented on that to Sandaime-sama – and he decided to use that. He um, he had me work with Morino-san on improving my ability to read people, and my last mission was to just… pay attention, keep my eyes open. It was hoped that I would be able to report potential problems before they became actual problems. And when I never received cancellation orders…" The Chunin shrugged almost helplessly.
By now Tsunade was fighting not to stare – and remembering a number of times when she saw someone in town apparently griping to Iruka, only to stop when they caught sight of another shinobi. After a small eternity of silence, the Hokage finally spoke again. "Actually, I had intended to inform you of the situation so you would be prepared in case something happens and we need to evacuate during school hours. But I want a report on those two people you mentioned by morning." And Iruka accepted that statement as the dismissal it was.
After he left, Tsunade pulled the cord that called her assistant into the room. "Shizune, get me the latest mission files on Umino." She wanted to see exactly what the man meant – and whether the 'mission' had had any success thus far.