Chapter 5
Iruka let the kids be at first, observing their practice as they threw kunai and shuriken. As expected, everyone from a clan background was already pretty good at it. Iruka still remembered how many times he'd made his hands bleed just to get a decent result, but those kids had no trouble hitting a target already.
"Naruto Uzumaki," Iruka looked at the worst one, who managed to hit everything but the target. "What are you doing?"
"My hands were sweaty, and these shuriken are slippery," Naruto tried to find an excuse. "I'll hit the next one, believe it!"
Iruka just watched as Naruto grabbed another deadly weapon and threw it like it was a ball. He did hit the target this time, only for the shuriken to bounce back and fly straight at Iruka's face, who was standing behind Naruto. Of course, Iruka easily caught it with two fingers, twirled it a bit, and demonstrated how it should be done by throwing it again and hitting the dead center of the target.
"See? I hit it!" Naruto smiled awkwardly as the rest of the class snickered.
"Do it again."
"What?"
"Throw another," Iruka instructed, as Naruto blinked in confusion.
"Ah! Sure!"
Iruka watched as Naruto tried to get into a stance. It didn't take long for him to realize Naruto was copying Sasuke. Even the wrist movements—Naruto mimicked them like a bad reflection. The shuriken once again completely missed the target, and the class burst out laughing. Iruka heard a few whispers about Naruto, none were what he liked to hear.
"What are you doing?" Iruka asked again. "No, don't answer. I already know. Wait a moment."
He scanned the training grounds until he found a rock big enough to stand on. He picked it up and placed it in front of Naruto, who, like everyone else, looked confused. Iruka didn't care.
"Stand on the stone and throw shuriken until you hit the target. Don't get off the stone until then, or I'll ban you from eating at Ramen Ichiraku."
"What?! How do you know about that?!"
"I know everything, remember? Now do as I told you."
Iruka observed Naruto quietly. The boy struggled to find good footing; he was completely forced to abandon his stance and adopt a new one. But that was the point. There is no better way to break a habit than making it physically impossible to maintain.
Naruto's lack of guidance had led him to believe that copying someone else would work. It wasn't his fault—he simply didn't know better. But Naruto was shorter than Sasuke, his feet a bit bigger, his shoulders a bit narrower. Sasuke's stance simply wouldn't work for him. Before he could master any stance, Naruto had to find what was comfortable for him.
The uneven and restrictive rock would force him to shift through various poses until he stumbled into something that fit. It wouldn't be easy, and it would take time, but a little frustration wouldn't kill him. And as days go by, he might start to understand what he was doing wrong and won't repeat the same mistake.
"I did it!"
"What?" Iruka blinked, surprised. Naruto had hit the target after only a few tries—and then did it again. And again.
"Good. Do you know why you were able to hit the target this time?" Iruka forced a smile, as it seemed his plan didn't succeed as he had wanted.
"Because I'm awesome?"
"No," Iruka said flatly. "It's because you stopped trying to do something you didn't understand. Don't imitate what you see. Find what works for you. With enough practice, you'll smooth out the rough edges. Now, there's one hour left of this lesson. If you don't hit the target one hundred times before then, I want a handwritten summary on the history of shuriken and kunai."
"Wait, what?! That's not fair!"
"Time is running out, Naruto," Iruka said, tapping his wristwatch.
Now, he could shift his attention from the worst to the merely less bad students, who were too busy laughing at Naruto to do anything useful. Iruka had to remind himself they were just kids. Hitting them wasn't the answer, at least not right now. So, he stretched a smile and walked over to one of his targets. No, they were his students now; he had to force himself to remember that. It wouldn't be good if someone were to hear his thoughts.
"Ino Yamanaka, eight out of ten. Not bad," Iruka said as he examined the target. "If you can repeat it, I might have you train with Sasuke."
"Really?—Ahem—I mean, of course I can." She flicked her platinum bangs out of her eyes with an arrogant smile. "I wasn't even trying before."
"Less talk, young lady. Show me what you're capable of."
"Aren't you going to step aside?" Ino frowned, confused as Iruka stood beside the target and made no move to leave.
"Too much walking. Don't worry about me—just concentrate on the target."
"Hmph. If you say so."
Ino seemed delighted to have everyone's attention. Even when Sasuke looked over, her pride only grew. She picked up a shuriken, balanced it in her hand, and threw it at the target. It flew straight toward the center, she knew, the class knew, and Iruka knew it, so she was already smiling arrogantly—until Iruka caught it in midair, just before it could hit the target.
"Missed," Iruka said calmly.
"You caught it! I was going to hit it!"
"Really? My bad. I thought it was flying at me, so I instinctively caught it. Please continue—I won't make the same mistake."
"Urgh, fine."
She threw another one—this time clearly angry. It was slightly off, but would've hit the target—if Iruka hadn't caught it again.
"Missed."
"Why?!" Ino was nearly in tears. She'd been so close to training with Sasuke, but now she realized that Iruka had no intention of letting her win.
"Because it was slow."
He didn't let up. Iruka held the caught shuriken up and addressed her.
"What is this?"
Ino hesitated—afraid it was a trick question—but answered.
"A shuriken."
"A shuriken, indeed." Iruka now had the full class's attention. "Do you think it's a toy?"
"No?" Ino answered hesitantly, not knowing where it was going.
"It's a weapon. If I threw it at you, Ino Yamanaka, what do you think would happen?"
"It... it would kill me?"
"Right. You can't catch it like I did," Iruka said—and then promptly threw the shuriken at her. Ino yelped as it flew past her, slicing off a strand of hair before embedding into a tree behind her.
"Because when I throw it, it's a weapon. But when you throw it, it's a toy. Don't get me wrong. It's impressive that you can hit the target. That is—if you were a civilian. But you're not. In four years, you'll graduate from this Academy. Do you know how many people in the world are as skilled as I am?"
"A few," Ino muttered.
"Correct," he said, surprising her. "Because I'm the bottom of the food chain. Every second shinobi you meet will be better than me. And every shinobi outside this village will be your enemy. So, in the next four years, you'd better learn to throw a shuriken faster than your enemy, or learn to catch one. Otherwise, you're dead. That goes for all of you."
Well, that escalated quickly. He'd meant to cut the kids some slack at the start of the class, but since the rant had already begun, there was no point in stopping. Maybe they'd remember something and think about it. If not, he will let some steam out.
"You laugh at your classmates for being worse than you, while wasting time you could use to improve. But from where I stand, it doesn't matter if it's Naruto or Sasuke or any of you—I could kill every single one of you. Goofing around is fine. But it's time to remember what this place is and who you are. You're not kids anymore. This is your third year in the Academy. In four more, you'll be released into the wild. So, pick up the slack. Because if you don't, it will be people like me who will pick up your dead bodies to deliver to your families."
"Iruka Umino!"
His rant was cut short as the principal stormed into the training ground, red as a tomato and spitting with every word coming from his mouth. "My office! Now!"
…
Iruka stood still, eyes lowered, mouth shut. That last part was the hardest.
Every passing minute made him regret not learning Fireball Jutsu—just to let one loose right now. As he was extremely curious about something, he noticed a certain detail about the principal. And once he noticed, he couldn't forget it.
"I told you not to cause trouble! Did you bla bla do? Bla bla bla bla. Bla bla bla bla bla. Bla? Bla! Bla bla bla—"
Was this some kind of genjutsu?
It wasn't his first time being lectured, but it was the first time he'd been distracted by how vividly the neck fat moved. The sweat made the reddish skin glisten. It was mesmerizing. So disgusting that he couldn't stop staring. Like he was trapped.
How much time had passed? Minutes? Hours?
By the sun's position out the window, it looked like an hour and a half had gone by—but Iruka felt like he'd only just started staring a few minutes ago. What was going on? He was completely lost and could not think of anything else.
He wondered… would the fat ignite on contact with fire? Would the principal burn slowly? Or explode? Could Iruka light him up and throw him at an enemy?
The first human bomb. Ridiculous. Right? But what if it worked? It would open a new way of war. Perhaps it would be the precursor to a weapon of mass destruction. Should he destroy it now, so no one else could find it and exploit it? Nobody would understand, but how many thousands of people would he save by destroying this potential weapon right now?
"This is your last warning," the principal said, finally lowering his voice.
Iruka snapped back to reality.
"But don't think you're scot-free, young man. I may be lenient, but some of the parents will hear about how you mistreated their children."
"Sir," Iruka nodded, and gave him his best puppy eyes he could muster. "Thank you. I overstepped my boundaries. I now understand it, but I'll learn from your words and follow your instructions. I just wanted to give the kids a little scare, to motivate them."
"You're young, so you're bound to make mistakes. But this ends here. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, sir. Of course."
"Fine. You're free."
Well, at least the principal hadn't mentioned yesterday's kick to Neji Hyuga's face. Or had he? Iruka genuinely had no idea what the man had been ranting about. So, best not to bring it up. Maybe he hasn't even heard about it.
He wasn't too worried about the parents. By coincidence—or maybe luck—he figured the clan families wouldn't complain about a little tough love, as long as it stayed within limits. And the others? Well, they probably wouldn't want to make a fuss either, as in doing so, they wouldn't get closer to the clans.
…
"Naruto?" Iruka was surprised to see the blond kid still on the training field, practicing as he walked by. "The class is over. You can go home."
"It's fine. I just wanted to practice a bit longer."
Iruka smiled. He walked over to the target and cut it down.
"Wha—what are you doing?" Naruto asked.
Iruka ignored him, trimmed the edges of the target, making it smaller, then pulled a string from his pouch. He tied it to a tree branch and pushed the target, causing it to start swinging.
"You already know how to hit a still target. Now do it while it's moving." He turned away. "Keep it swinging with your hits for five minutes straight—and then call it a day. Don't forget to wash up afterward. You reek of sweat. I want you to be clean tomorrow."
"Why?"
"We're going on a little excursion. There's something I want to show the class."
A.N.As always, thanks for reading and supporting me, so I can continue writing without any concerns, and if you want more, up to seven more chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852.