A/N: Okay, cliffhanger over. Not much happens in this chapter, but I still like it - hopefully you all will too.

Thank you again to everyone who reviewed: terracannon876, WhyMustIWrite, InARealPickle, XimeB and Veve.

chibi heishi does not own Naruto or anything in his world.

Iruka slowly released the breath he had automatically sucked in, raising his arm from in front of his stomach to almost shoulder level. His eyes were fixed, not on the kunai lodged firmly in his forearm, but on the blond child standing just a few feet away. Takeshi's face had lost the red flush of anger, instead draining to a bone white shade. The boy was trembling, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps as he stared in utter horror.

The room was nearly silent, the only sounds being the soft sobs of some of the more tender-hearted children, and the steady drip of blood onto the classroom floor. All eyes were riveted on the teacher as he reached up with his free hand. One of the little ones choked on a cry as Iruka calmly, so very calmly, wrapped that hand around the handle of the kunai. He pulled it out of his arm without so much as flinching, stepping just that small distance forward and laying the weapon on Takeshi's desk. Once the weapon was out of his hand, he covered the wound, applying firm pressure but never taking his eyes off of the child's face.

When he spoke, his voice was soft, but every child in the room could hear the steel underneath it. "Matsuda-kun."

The boy flinched. Iruka had never called any of the children by their family names. Iruka went on as if he had not noticed the child's reaction.

"What you just did was very dangerous. You just attacked your teammate. Not with words, or even with fists, but with a bladed weapon. He has no weapon, no way of defending himself. You could have seriously hurt Eiji-kun. You could have killed him. I… had expected better than this." When Iruka turned away, the boy rocked back as if he had been slapped. In truth, it would have been kinder to have beaten the child.

Iruka stopped near the little Inuzuka, kneeling to look the boy in the face. "Eiji-kun, are you alright?" The boy nodded numbly. Iruka gave him a soft, empty smile, and then stood to address the rest of the class. His voice was still low, still soft… still fur wrapped around steel. And now that they could see his face, all the children shuddered. His expression was calm, but every child in the room realized that his eyes were dark, shielded as they had never seen in their gentle sensei.

"Class, I want you all to finish reading chapter six of your textbooks tonight, and do the problems at the end of the chapter. We'll go over it in class in the morning, but for now… Class is dismissed." One of the children plucked up his courage, raising one trembling hand in the air. "Yes, Jiro-kun?"

"S, sensei… are you…"

Iruka's face softened, a touch of warmth returning to his eyes as he looked around at his children. "I'm fine, everyone. This is nothing, I'll just get some bandages from the nurse and I'll be grading your assignments tomorrow. It's only a small wound." Then his voice dropped, murmuring as if to himself. "Only a small wound. But it could have been so much worse."

Without another word to his children, he walked out the door, two hours before class was supposed to end. He walked past the Teacher's Aid standing frozen in the hall, and down a corridor towards the nurses' station, not at all surprised when the girl fell in beside him, her eyes almost as wide as those of his students.

-

Kisho, Mori cursed in annoyance. The man shoved the box back onto it's proper shelf, all the while muttering under his breath at the 'careless ninja bastards' who 'couldn't be bothered to put their own damn stuff back up'. 'Well,' he thought. 'At least it's lunch break, so those damn ninjas won't bother me for another hour.' One last grumbled complaint, and Mori straightened up, dusting off the knees of his pants. His spine stiffened as a bright laugh rang out from behind him. He spun on his heel, taking an automatic step back as he found himself face to face with the Recruiter.

The ninja smiled, but the expression lacked any trace of warmth. Those bright eyes glittered with a cold, sharp madness as the ninja leaned in towards the civilian. "Kisho-san, the Village of the Hidden Rocks regrets to inform you that your assistance in this venture is no longer necessary. Have a nice death."

The man had no chance to process the younger one's words – he was dead before he hit the ground. The last thing that Mori heard was the delighted laughter of the Rock ninja.

-

Nozomi glanced up as she walked beside the man, wide brown eyes once more flicking between the Chunin's bleeding arm and bland expression. After a few more steps, she took a breath to speak, but Iruka glanced at her and shook his head. And not two heartbeats later, they both heard light, quick footsteps rushing down the hall.

Matsuda Takeshi raced down the hall, stumbling to a stop a few feet away from his teacher. Nozomi stopped one step before the teacher did, turning to face the child. Iruka didn't look at him. The child opened his mouth, hesitated, closed it again… he did this a few times, before finally forcing out a single word. "Sen…sei?" the boy whispered, his young voice shaken. The sight of the child, standing pale and trembling in the hall, tears streaming down his face, nearly broke Nozomi's heart.

But the Academy instructor did not even glance man simply spoke, his voice – not cold, not quite, but… blank. Bland. Empty enough to make the teenager shiver. "Class is over, Matsuda-kun. I will see you in the morning. Now go home." The child made a soft, strangled sound, and then he whirled and ran.

Nozomi stared, then stepped around the older shinobi, fully intending to rant at him for such callous treatment. But then… then those eyes, which he had apparently closed when speaking to the boy, opened. He looked down at his arm, his free hand now covered in his own blood, and his eyes lost that blank look. Her breath caught again in her throat. 'So much pain…' her mind dimly registered. She swallowed, getting her breath back enough to speak. "Um, Umino-san? Are you… Does your arm hurt that badly?"

The Chunin blinked, glancing from her to the wound as though he had forgotten that it was there. "My arm? Oh, this? No, no, like I told my class, it's fine. I got worse than this from some of my last class' 'pranks'."

"Then, what… what pains you so much, sensei?" As Nozomi took a small step closer, she realized that it wasn't just pain, but a great sadness in the teacher's eyes. He smiled a little for her, but a blind man would have been able to tell that it was forced.

When he spoke again, his voice was so soft, so sad. "I… I hurt one of my children today. Hurt him badly." The teacher shook himself slightly, resuming the walk to the nurses' station and leaving Nozomi behind.

She stood in the hallway, brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of the apparent non-sequitur. And then she gasped, her jaw dropping in sudden understanding. Nozomi ran after the teacher, catching up to him as he stepped out from the nurses' station with a roll of bandages in his hand. She gaped at him for a moment, struggling to make her words come out as he leaned against the wall, casually wrapping his arm as if he did it every day. Finally she blurted it out. "You… You let that hit you, didn't you?!"

Iruka looked up at her, a faint wry smile tugging at the edges of his lips. "Of course. You didn't really think that a six year old would be able to truly hurt a grown Chunin, did you? Though I have to admit, I was worried about Eiji-kun for a moment there. Wasn't sure I'd be fast enough."

Nozomi spluttered, fully aware that she was not acting much like a shinobi at the moment, but not really caring. "But, you… he… Why?!"

Now the teacher really did smile, although softly, his eyes going distant. Rather like his voice. "Takeshi-kun… really does have the makings of a fine shinobi. He's smart, he's enthusiastic, he works hard, he has a knack for weapons – well, kunai at least… But… He has a terrible temper. He has a great deal of control – when he focuses on something he nearly has to be pried away from it, he'd have practiced straight through lunch yesterday if I had let him – but he has no discipline. He only controls himself when it suits him. Shinobi… can't do that."

Iruka looked down at his wounded arm, face thoughtful as he paused, carefully sorting his next words. "I could have caught that blade. I could have screamed at Takeshi-kun until I was blue in the face, made him stand in a corner until his legs were numb, made him write lines or clean up until his hands cramped. But… that would have stopped him for a few days. After that, he would go back to being temperamental. If he graduated from the Academy with that temper, it would only be a matter of time before he attacked a teammate like that again. But next time, he would be older, better trained. His aim would be much more accurate, the speed and force behind his throw much greater. …I was able to take the blow on the top of my forearm, where it will hurt, but there was no chance of cutting an artery or getting nerve damage. Before long, that might not be the case."

"I could have caught it" he stated, his voice once more dropping into that soft murmur that gave Nozomi the impression that he had forgotten she was there and was speaking to himself. "I could have, but this way… If I haven't traumatized him too much, if he comes back to class tomorrow, I can almost promise… That child will never attack a teammate again. It's a harsh way to teach a lesson, even brutal, but… I'd rather that I hurt now than one of my children hurt later."

Nozomi released a soft breath, unaware that she had been holding it until the man had finished. But then she gulped, as the sound had snapped the teacher's attention back to her.

Those brown eyes were suddenly sharp, pinning the girl in place. This time, when he spoke, his voice was strong and sure. "Nozomi-chan, you will not speak of this to the teacher you were assigned to. Takeshi-kun made a mistake – a terrible one, yes, but one that he is truly sorry for and will not repeat. If this goes on his school record, it could ruin his chance to be a shinobi. If I believe that any risk to his classmates remains after today, I will pull him from the Academy myself. But for now, this matter is over. Do you understand?" After the girl had nodded her assent, the teacher walked away, once again leaving the bewildered teenager standing in the hall.

Just after Iruka turned the corner, Nozomi heard a soft chuckle from the doorway of the nurses' station. She spun to face the door, only to find the medic leaning against the doorframe. "So it was one of his kids. I figured that was why he wouldn't say what had happened." The woman shook her head in amusement. "Only Iruka would bleed to teach his kids a lesson. Of course, that's probably why his kids tend to be the best…"