WHAT'S YOUR WORTH?
Kakashi pulls out a book from somewhere in his clothes and flips through it lazily.
"As you all know," he begins, "Tayuya will be joining our team. I won't go into the details since we already discussed it before you arrived. Sakura is excited to keep her spot," he glances up from his book and smiles at the girl with his visible eye, "so all we need to decide is what to do with you, Naruto."
"The village saved my life," Naruto responds, "so I'm willing to stay on the team. I told Jiraiya as much."
"I know," Kakashi smiles again, this time more coldly, "but the decision is mine. I'm a pretty strict teacher. You'll need to prove you still belong on my team. But don't worry—you've done it once before. I just need to see if you haven't... changed too much."
"And I'll help with that."
A gust of wind blows, and someone appears on the scene. It's a young man with brown hair, whom Naruto remembers seeing at the hospital. Judging by his reaction to seeing him alive, he must have been important in his past. However, Naruto can't quite recall his name.
Luckily, Kakashi does the introductions for him.
"Iruka was your teacher at the Academy, so he's the best person to evaluate whether your basic skills are still up to par. You'll face him in a training match, and if he gives you the go-ahead," Kakashi exchanges glances with Naruto, "then I'll test you myself."
"We start right now. Why are you just standing there? Let's go, Naruto!" Iruka seems like a friendly guy, or maybe he's just in a good mood. Who knows? Anyway, Naruto follows him until they reach the center of the clearing. "It's simple: we'll have a five-point match. The first to hit the other five times wins. See? Easy. Any questions?"
"No."
"Alright then. Take it easy at first, okay? The doctors said you're recovered, but remember you nearly died. So if at any point you feel like you're pushing yourself too hard..."
"Iruka," Kakashi cuts him off from a few meters away, "are you planning to spend the whole day here?"
"Fine, fine. I just wanted... never mind. Anyway, Naruto, shall we start?" Iruka stands up straight and performs a hand sign in greeting, which his former student clumsily imitates. "Good, on the count of one... two... three!"
Time seems to move strangely in moments like this. As soon as Iruka starts counting, he takes his stance. "One..." he pulls out a kunai, gripping it in his right hand with the blade pointed down. "Two..." Naruto hasn't moved yet, watching him with his head tilted. The boy's eyes no longer sparkle with the same intensity, but they remain as red as the Fox's. This is where Iruka starts to sense something is off. Something isn't going as planned. Call it intuition, experience, whatever you want. Despite advising they take it easy, the veteran chunin gathers as much chakra as he can in the small gap between the second count and the next...
"Three!" There's a blur, a rush of air, and Naruto closes the distance between them before Iruka can react. It's a simple, direct punch, amateurish even, but it shatters Iruka's guard like glass. From Iruka's perspective, it feels like being struck by a battering ram; from outside, he's just a blur being propelled five, ten, twenty meters back. Then time returns to normal, and Iruka is on the grass, clutching his chest, breathless and completely stunned. The only thought running through his mind, the only thing he can process, is this: "if I hadn't defended with everything I had," he thinks, terrified, "I don't know what would've happened."
A few meters away, Kakashi raises his hand.
"That's one point," he says, unperturbed. "I'll start counting to ten. One... two... three... Come on, Iruka. Get up."
Sakura, watching the scene with wide eyes, wonders when Naruto gained this strength. Has he always been... this fast?
"Wow. He really gave it to him," Tayuya laughs and crosses her arms. "Doesn't change the fact he's still a clown. What are you looking at?" The other girl gives her an odd stare, then proceeds to ignore her.
Back to where we left off. Iruka has had enough time to get up. He touches his chest as if he's going to have a heart attack. Come on, Iruka, you're a mid-level ninja, a teacher, and all that. Show some pride. Okay. That's better.
Iruka smiles and gives a thumbs up, as if to say everything is fine, great even.
"You've grown," he says, putting on his best poker face. "I didn't remember you being so fast. Or so strong. Or..."
"Hey, we can stop if you want," Naruto responds. "I don't think this is going anywhere."
"Why not?" Iruka retakes his stance. At least his legs have stopped trembling. "Don't you think your old sensei can beat you?"
"No."
"Alright, let's continue," Kakashi says. "One, two... three!"
This time, it's Iruka who charges forward, and to be fair, he's much faster than one would expect. He wasn't chosen as a teacher at the Academy just because he's good with children: despite his appearance, he can handle most shinobi of his rank.
His attack is a right straight that Naruto deflects with a simple hand gesture. But it was all part of a plan, a distraction; now, Iruka launches into a carefully choreographed combination of attacks, including punches, kicks, and elbow strikes. Everything is precise and measured. And now Naruto is having a much harder time: faced with such an array of techniques, all he can do is block. It's the power of repeating the same movements over and over for so many years. Of training every day. The power of practice!
He's just found his rhythm. Suddenly, he crouches and sweeps Naruto off his feet! It's true that Naruto immediately jumps back up, but Iruka is right there, sticking to him, with a rapid series of punches that... have no effect. Naruto's blocks are improving rapidly. It's as if he anticipates each attack before it happens—perhaps this is what they call instinct? Or maybe Iruka's combinations seem... obvious to him? Iruka can't say. All he knows is that a hand just grabbed his vest and pulled him forward. A very hard forehead just collided with his nose with tremendous force... no matter.
"Point," Kakashi says again. Meanwhile, Iruka wipes the blood from his nose with the back of his hand. And for the first time during this match, he gets serious.
"I see you're in top form," he says, now quite irritated. "Alright. Alright." Iruka forms a hand seal. Kakashi resumes his count.
"One, two, three."
And the chunin disappears. The speed he demonstrates now is nothing like before. Iruka has shifted into high gear all at once. In one moment, he's there, and in the next, he's behind Naruto, who turns and misses with his backward elbow; Iruka catches his arm, pulls him, and takes him down with a lock. Then he puts a kunai to his neck.
"Point," this time Iruka declares, "two to one."
"Wow," Tayuya says, still with her arms crossed, "and here I thought he was useless."
"Sensei Iruka has a lot of experience," Sakura replies, "but then again... what would you know? Sound Village girl."
"You talk a lot for someone who got punched in the face." And Sakura, once again, chooses not to respond.
Not long after, Naruto and Iruka are facing each other again.
"If I were you, Naruto, I'd be ready. From now on, your sensei isn't holding back."
Kakashi looks up from his book.
"One, two, three." Then he goes back to his reading.
Now the match is more even. Iruka uses his kunai, shurikens, and hand-to-hand combat experience. All the skills he's honed over his ninja career become evident as they exchange blows. He's good at attacking, good at dodging, and good at blocking. That's the problem. He's simply "good." Nothing more.
There's a moment when one of Naruto's punches breaks through his guard, forcing him to retreat several meters while throwing shuriken. Only for Naruto to deflect them with his bare hands. "The way he covers his body in chakra is very natural," Iruka thinks, "much more than I remember." It's clear that in close combat, Naruto has the advantage.
So in the next clash, after a series of strikes, Iruka forms his hand seals skillfully in the middle of a combination and, after deflecting three punches in a row, he finally brings his hands together, channels his chakra, and disappears in a cloud of green leaves.
"Demonic illusion," Iruka's voice echoes from somewhere, "Hell Viewing Technique."
Genjutsu is something Iruka has always been good at. Yet, at the same time, it's a choice he should have never made.
2
The training ground vanishes. Now he's in a cave. It's large, deep, and dark. The air smells unpleasant—maybe old, maybe like death.
Naruto blinks to adjust to the lack of light. What just happened? A moment ago, he was fighting that nice but weak guy. It was difficult not to hurt him more than necessary, but what would that have achieved anyway? It was just an absurd test. He only needed to pass it.
"Anyway, this place feels familiar." It's an interesting thought, considering his lack of memories. "This place is... is..."
"Hey," someone says. "What are you doing here?" It's a male voice, and it comes from the back of the place. Naruto squints, trying to make something out, but the shadows are too deep. Too dark.
But there's a flash. Something lights up. It's a reddish glow that grows, floating like mist. At the back of this place, there's a prison, but not just any prison. It's massive, as if it were meant to hold something many, many times larger than a human.
"You shouldn't be here," the voice says. "Leave."
"Who the hell are you?"
"Just go before it's too late."
"I don't know what you're talking about, but you're getting on my nerves."
And though Naruto tries to approach, it seems the more he advances, the further away the cage gets. It's as if it's moving at the same pace as him—no, faster.
"Go back now," the voice says. And now, in the distance, something appears. There are two small blue lights, almost hidden among the red mist—"You're hurting him."
Something runs down Naruto's spine. A chill. A realization. If he's here, and this isn't real, what's happening outside? Suddenly, the cave starts to fade, and the lights watching him from the back disappear along with it.