Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

Truth	By : emethyst Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Kakashi/Iruka Views: 4096 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: i make nothing from this piece of naruto fanfiction. all characters and original plotlines of the manga and anime belong to their rightful owners.

Chapter List
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iruka didnt sleep too well that night, his arm throbbing from the burn he'd inflicted on himself, he was thankful that he had tomorrow off from work but secretly dreaded if they were going to train with his arm like this. tossing for the hundreth time that night he finally gave up. sighing he rose from the bed and told mayonaka to stay quiet. the pair made it out to the living room and iruka found the book he'd been reading. reclining in his chair he continued where he had left off.

kakashi's eye snapped open, something was off. sitting up in bed he looked across the hall to see that irukas door was open. getting out of bed he made his way to the doorway to see that the man was indeed missing from his bed. frowning he made his way down the hallway checking the bathroom and the library before coming around the corner into the living room. shaking his head he put his hands on his hips.

iruka's head was back against the chair a book lay open on his chest. he was obviously asleep. he didnt look very comfortable though. looking down to the dog at his side he asked.

"why's he out here?"

she whinned a bit and raised her head to sniff at the bandaged arm. catching on kakashi spoke.

"his arm's hurting him isnt it"

sighing he approached the chunin with all the intention to tell the man to go back to bed, but once he got close enough he shrugged his shoulders and carefully lifted the man into his arms.

"come on mayonaka, its bed time"

the dog faithfully followed the man carrying her master. kakashi was careful as he laid iruka down on the bed, covering the man up he rubbed the dogs ears as he went to leave. he made sure to leave the door open just in case iruka got up again. making his way back to his own bed he couldnt help but be honest with himself that it had been nice to hold the man.

***********

iruka rolled over and winced as his arm was pressed into the covers, rolling back onto his back he sighed as the pain subsided. then his eyes bolted open, he had distinctly remembered reading in the living room and yet he was undeniably laying down on a bed. sitting up he noticed that he was back in his own room, mayonaka at his side.

"how'd i get here?"

the dog just wagged her tail at him before settling back down. still confused as to what had happened he slid out of the bed and got himself ready for another day of training. he was just strapping his weapons pouch on when kakashi knocked on the doorway. looking up he smiled to the man.

"im guessing you somehow brought me back here?"

kakashi nodded, not about to reveal that he actually carried the man. iruka still blushed to his amusement.

"i guess im ready"

kakashi nodded and started for the door. iruka said goodbye to his ninken and locked up the apartment before following the jounin. it wasnt until kakashi started going down an unknown path that iruka spoke up.

"umm training grounds are that way?"

kakashi just smiled at him and continued, shrugging his shoulders iruka followed the man. it wasnt long before he saw two black flags marking the beginning of a training area. he watched as kakashi did a hand signal and an invisible barrier opened to allow them to enter. he stayed close to the ninja not sure what was taking place. he watched kakashi reseal the area before turning around and motioning him to continue. just as they were cresting a hill did it finally hit iruka, he saw the rest of kakashi's team waiting for them.

"this is an anbu training field"

"yep"

joining the others they said goodmorning to one another before genma spoke up rather chipperly.

"you ready to get taught a lesson in anbu training?"

iruka just smiled before stating.

"i think i'll be alright, if all else fails i can just hide in the tree's"

that made genma pout and others laugh. it was kurenai who spoke up.

"no hiding unless your using it to your advantage in battle, you wont be able to avoid all your enemies that way"

iruka shrugged before muttering that it had worked before. she smiled at him before asking who was going to start with iruka first. not surprisingly it was genma who stepped forward.

"alright lets see what you got"

the others backed away to observe the two fight when iruka smiled at genma and asked.

"do i even want to know how many senbon you brought with you?"

the others chuckled behind him which gave him a good idea. genma just shrugged his shoulders before replying.

" i'll let you start first"

iruka raised an eyebrow, genma was known for being a little cocky from time to time. sighing iruka nodded before pulling out a single kunai and launching at the nin. genma of course easily avoided the weapon simply stating.

"really?"

iruka shrugged before jumping into the tree above him. it was kakashi who pointed to behind genma that caught his attention. twisting around his eyes widened. the ground was completely eaten away.

"how'd?"

kakashi just laughed at the ninja.

"i'd be more careful if i were you"

frowning genma took off into the forest, determined to get the upper hand on the chunin. they watched as the pair took off into the forest, reclining against a tree it was asuma who asked.

"im guessing he did that with you?"

"yeah, but not as obvious. dont know how he does it though, didnt bother to ask. it speaks for itself"

they nodded as they could hear the sounds of weapons clanging together in the distance. it wasnt too long before they heard a rather startled yell followed by a loud crash.

"and that would be his log trap"

glancing to kakashi the others were quite perplexed.

"hes very good with traps"

they nodded as they heard genma cursing in the distance trying to call out iruka into an open fight.

"iruka isnt about to fight him out in the open is he?"

looking to raidou kakshi shook his head.

"no, he knows where his skills lie, and being stealthy is at the top. being out in the open he would be at a dissadvantage. something we need to work on with him, he's not always going to have the ability to run"

they nodded, it was true that in some instances you just couldnt turn your back on an enemy even for a second. it could cost you or your teammates their lives. rather suddenly iruka came running through the brush a smile on his face.

"ano sorry raidou but i think i pissed him off"

raidou waved a hand at the chunin and asked why he wasnt still running.

"i have a couple minutes before he gets around what i laid out"

they raised their brows to him. either he was being cocky for once or he truly believed that genma was going to be held back by whatever traps he had laid out. before they could ask anything there was a large explosion behind iruka. the chunin smiled and looked behind him.

"yeah, thats my cue."

racing off past them, they followed the man as he dissapeared once more into the forest. it was only a couple minutes later that an angry genma came through the same trail. he had obviously been caught in the tail end of whatever blast iruka had caught him in, his clothing was singed and he was covered in soot.

"im gonna kill him"

"now now genma, thats not the point"

kakashi pacified the man, genma just glarred at kakashi before stating.

"do you know what he just did with a explosive tag, that is not how their supposed to be used"

"i think it was his jutsu actually"

genma just shook his head before walking rather calmly back into the forest to track down the chunin. iruka was making him look bad and that just wouldnt stand. the others were amused by the chunin's ability to rile up their teammate. it wasnt too long before they heard a couple more traps being set off. smirking a little kakashi said.

"he really likes logs, cant remember how many of those i had to avoid"

the others reguarded the silver haired nin silently for a moment before a shudden tremor shook the ground. that they knew was from genma. raidou sighed.

"well iruka had a good head start, but he's not going to be able to out run that"

they all nodded, even kakashi didnt believe that the ninja was fast enough for avoiding genma's earthquake jutsu, it tore everything apart in its wake and made it hard to get to safe ground. he could only silently hope that the chunin didnt get to badly injured by his teammate.

some time passed and all was quiet, they were starting to wonder if something had happened to the pair when iruka suddenly walked through a tree a couple feet infront of them, he was panting lightly but smiling. he had quite a few developing bruises and a couple lacerations, but didnt appear to be really hurt.

"umm raidou you might want to go let him down"

"down?"

iruka nodded as he took a seat, catching his breath a moment he replied.

"i might have tied him up a little"

raidou shook his head before stating.

"im sure he can get out of it"

iruka shrugged, he'd leave it to them to go investigate when the man didnt return. it was some ten minutes later that a very peterbed genma came walking into the field, he had a couple cuts on him, but was otherwise fine. glarring to the chunin who he was supposed to be giving a run for his money he couldnt help but retort.

"did you teach that to naruto cause that would explain a few things"

iruka laughed a little before responding.

"no he figured that out all on his own"

the ninja humphed before sitting down in raidous lap. once he was seated he asked.

"you have a lot of patience i'll give you that"

"i've worked with kids for the last twelve years i would hope i was patient"

genma smiled at the man.

"yeah but setting that man traps in such a small area and not setting one off yourself that takes talent"

iruka blushed a little to their amusement before muttering a thanks. they let the man catch his breath before asuma stood up and told the chunin to get ready. remembering what kakashi had told him about the mans blades he took a couple extra steps back, it didnt go unnoticed. asuma smiled at him.

"you wont be running and hiding from me"

iruka took a deep breath, he knew his strengths lied in being in the tree's being caught out in the open would not go over well. once kurenai said to start he raced for the nearest tree only to skid to a stop and duck as one of asuma's blades nearly cut off his head. sliding underneath the nin he continued to try for the forest. again he was forced back as asuma appeared infront of him. frowning at the much larger man, he knew what he was doing. he was preventing him from getting to the saftey of the forest. keeping him out in the open to fight him one on one.

"i forfeit"

he called out rather suddenly, causing them all to raise their brows.

"excuse me?"

asuma said with some speculation.

"i said i forfeit, im no match for you out in the open, i know that. and i really dont want to get carved up by those blades of yours"

iruka pointed to asumas trench blades which were glowing with the flow of his chakra to extend their range.

"you dont get an option in this iruka, your enemies arent just going to let your forfeit"

iruka shrugged before non chalantly stating.

"your not my enemy"

"i am right now"

again the chunin shrugged at the man. frowning at the chunin he though about how he could force the man to fight him. it was kakashi who yelled out to iruka.

"come on iruka just try and hit him with those corrosive blades of yours, that'll keep him at bay"

asuma glarred at his teammate before calling out.

"your not supposed to be helping him"

kakashi said oops before falling quiet again amongst the group as the others laughed. iruka smiled, he knew they didnt know how he made his blade corrosive and he really didnt want to show that too them. he remembered how his teammates had reacted to seeing it. he didnt want them to look at him the same way.

"cant, im all out"

asuma frowned at the man, even from this distance he could tell the man was lying. they all could, the real reason was why. they continued to stand in a stand still until iruka called out.

"umm so what now?"

asuma straightened his back before stalking towards the man, he wasnt going to let him get off so easy. iruka's eyes widened and he quickly started back peddling away from the armed man. now in the center of the field, he knew he had no hope of reaching any of the tree's, he was really screwed now. he tried to think of some way to get passed the man, but asuma was closing in. mind racing he quickly performed the hand signs and grasped a fireball to launch at the man. once it was thrown he raced for the tree line. asuma dodged the attack easily and went to cut off the man. only midly shocked when the fireball didnt burn something behind him but instead exploded the area where it landed. he would have to keep that in mind.

watching the two go back and forth it was kurenai who asked.

"why do you think he's lying?"

"he doesnt like showing what he can do, mostly because of the council believing him to be like orochimaru. he's trying to distance himself from him, but in return he's limiting what he can use against us."

they glanced to kakashi and nodded, it made sense that the kind hearted man didnt want to be thought of being the same as his twisted sensei. but leaving himself open to attack wasnt the right way to go about things. they watched as asuma closed in and swiped his blades only to have iruka duck and try and kick him in the stomahe. asuma avoided the leg swung out to him and instead tried to bring his knives down to cut into the outstretched leg. he managed to graze the man's leg and heard the chunin hiss in pain as he tumbled backwards. a couple feet apart he took in the teachers appearence, he had some cuts and scrapes, but so far the cut on his leg was the worst.

iruka didnt bother to glance down at his leg, he could feel the blood sliding down his pants. he knew he couldnt afford to take his eyes off of asuma lest he find himself in a death hold by the man.

"that was better, but you need to attack with intent"

asuma called out to the man he was training. iruka didnt say anything at first before responding.

"i dont want to hurt you"

"then your never going to get better"

frowning at the man opposite of him, iruka tried to think about how he could win the match without using any of the other techniques he'd learned over the years. he'd already shown too much to them. taking out a kunai, he twisted it around in his palm, fingering the steel trying to decided if he should waste it by launching at his opponent out in the open. it would waste the kunai, but give him an opportunity to get close enough to try and render the man unable to attack.

palming the kunai, he prepared to throw it at the man acrossed from, having anchored the kunai with some string he would easily be able to call it back to himself and use it again and possibly injure the man on its return trip. launching the kunai he swiftly followed the projectile, ready to clash with asuma.

asuma raised his trench blades prepared to block the kunai and defend against whatever iruka was about to do. deflecting the kunai he raised his left arm to bring down a blade to cut the ninja, only to wince when the kunai he had just dodged was pulled back and sliced into his arm, the cut was shallow, but it bled none the less. starring at the chunin who was only a couple feet away from him he had to ask.

"that was your plan? give me a papercut?"

iruka just shrugged his shoulders like he didnt know what else to do. about to charge at the ninja he found he couldnt move his arm, it lay at his side unmoving. he watched as his trench blade fell to the ground useless as his fingers went numb.

the others watched as for some reason asuma dropped his knife, they didnt know what was going on until asuma asked.

"what'd you do?"

iruka smiled before explaining.

"it'll ware off in a couple minutes, but i could easily do the same with the rest of your body, all i need is a papercut"

asuma reguarded the nin carefully. iruka had managed to inject him with something from the single kunai. he wanted to know what.

"what is it?"

iruka didnt answer instead asking.

"you forfeit?"

sighing, he knew he was at a dissadvantage with his arm not working, but was sure that he could take the chunin with only one arm, but he saw the ninja fingering another kunai ready to throw it. sighing he decided answers were better than being frozen in place.

"i forfeit"

iruka smiled and put the kunai back in his pouch before approaching asuma. relaxing his shoulders asuma smiled at iruka.

"so what is it?"

making their way over to the group who were relaxing iruka calmly stated.

"pit viper venom"

they were all rather shocked that the chunin had actually used such a weapon against asuma, but were more intrigued as to how he had some on him. iruka smiled and pulled up his sleeve revealing a small snake wrapped around his arm. their eyes widened, they hadnt seen him cast his summons. pulling the snake free from around his arm, iruka sat in the circle and pet the snake gently with a few fingers. he was nervous how they would take this. it was asuma who started laughing, breaking up the awkward silence.

"i never saw you do the summoning ritual, your hands not cut though how'd you?"

iruka pulled up his pant leg to show the dripping blood from his leg. then it dawned on him, he'd used his chakra to make the contract come to life using the blood running down his leg.

"anyways, its not gonna last much longer, this guys too small to do any damage."

asuma nodded his head, kurenai had taken his hand, but he couldnt feel it at the moment. she had a light frown to her face and when he smiled to her she relaxed.

"anymore tricks you've got up your sleeves?"

iruka shook his head at genma.

"i can assure you i have no more snakes on my person, it'd be too uncomfortable to move with them, they'd be more likely to bite me if i kinked their tails and then i'd be screwed instead of the person i was fighting."

the anbu listened intently to the chunin, his summons were powerful, it was obvious with such a small snake being able to imobalize asuma's arm so fast, but to know that they would just as easily turn on their contract holder, iruka had to be careful when dealing with them.

iruka knew that they were each processing in their own way what they had witnessed and he hadnt missed the frown on kurenai's face when she realized what he had done to asuma. he didnt want to argue with them,but this was the reason why he didnt use his skills. people would always look at him differently. picking up the snake in his hand he thanked it before sending it on its way. it dissapeared in a puff of smoke leaving the chunin with the anbu.

"it didnt ask for anything in return?"

asuma was curious, he had heard how blood thirsty the snakes could be. iruka just smiled at him, refusing to answer. deciding to lighten the mood kakashi suggested that they break for lunch. the walk back into town was quiet, asuma still didnt have the use of his arm, which only seemed to concern kurenai more. iruka knew that the man would be fine, but it seemed like his guarentee wasnt enough. instead of letting himself overthink things, he let it go. they'd either treat him differently from now on or they wouldnt.

finding a restraunt they were seated quickly and waited for their drinks to be brought. leaning against the booth iruka relaxed for a moment, this was more of a workout than he'd gotten in a long time and he was deffinetly feeling it.

"tired?"

frowning at genma he stuck his tongue out at him. this just made him laugh.

"real mature"

iruka shrugged before commenting

"i've been around the kids too long"

genma snorted at that and stole a sip of raidous drink which earned him a light scowl from his lover. iruka smiled at the pair. he was about to say something when asuma suddenly lifted his hand on his own and wiggled his fingers.

"ok that is the weirdest feeling ever"

iruka laughed as the man wiggled his fingers to try and get them back to normal.

"yeah, it does feel weird. you get used to it though"

taking a drink of his tea he didnt catch how they all looked at him. it was kakashi who asked.

"what do you mean?"

looking up he realized what he had said, he hadnt meant to blurt something like that out, especially not to them.

"ano-i've been bitten before"

"how many times?"

asuma asked with a frown on his face. sighing iruka waved them off, but it didnt seem the anbu were willing to let it go. it was kurenai who asked.

"why did they bite you?"

"they were ordered too"

he let the sentance hang he knew they were smart enough to put the pieces together and he really didnt want to have to say it.

"orochimaru?"

and there it was, he just nodded before reclining against the booth again.

"why did he do that?"

looking to the confused faces, he couldnt help but try and smile at them, try and alleviate their concerns.

"why has he done any of the things he's done? he felt it was nessasary i guess, look its not a big deal. it happened ages ago"

they still werent pacified by the chunin's ability to just let something like that go.

"and you didnt tell anyone?"

iruka sighed, they were like a dog with a bone.

"no-there was no reason too, its not like he was trying to kill me- at least im pretty sure that wasnt his aim. he was just testing me"

the anbu finally let it drop since their food arrived. eating in relative silence it was raidou who spoke up next.

"after lunch you'll be going against me"

iruka smiled to the nin before stating rather sarcastically.

"i cant wait"

the other nin laughed at irukas enthusiasm. finishing their meal, they paid and left he restraunt to return to the training field. asuma had regained the full use of his arm and had it wrapped around kurenai as they walked. iruka felt happy for them, to be able to have someone to share your life with, it had been so long since he had that-and when he did it had always been tainted by pain. so much pain. shaking his head to clear his thoughts he saw kakashi raise an eyebrow to him, he just smiled at the jounin before continueing through the barrier and into the training field.

once the group was settled, raidou approached iruka and informed him that he was going to mostly be focusing on taijitsu with him. iruka nodded and prepared to defend himself. he blinked when the man dissapeared only to be kicked to the ground from behind rather suddenly. crashing to the ground he grit his teeth, he didnt have long to pout though, he had to roll out of the way as another kick was aimed at where his head had been laying. a crater resulted from the impact and iruka was greatful he hadnt stuck around any longer. getting to his feet he watched his apponent carefully, he had no doubts that this was going to be hard, he wasnt the best at taijitsu, but he was going to give it his all. they traded blows back and forth with iruka taking more than giving. being pushed back by the blow to his chest he panted as he waited for the nin to attack him again. he was going to be black and blue come morning time. resolving himself to some more discomfort he charged at raidou and aimed a kick for the nin's head, only to find himself on his back when the nin used his momentum against him. coughing a bit he rolled to his side and got back to his feet. damn that had hurt.

they watched as raidou handed iruka's ass to him over and over again. it was obvious that iruka didnt focus too much on hand to hand combat. he was going to need quite a few more sessions to be able to hold his own in battle. it was asuma who asked kakashi.

"did you know about the snakes?"

"he'd mentioned something before, but i never thought it was like that."

the smoking nin nodded as he lit another ciggarette. kurenai was watching the battle before asking.

"how do you think he's going to fare against me?"

"we did an exercise at the apartment, he did fairly well until i introduced orochimaru into the illusions. then he just froze. thats his weak point for sure."

the red eyed shinobi nodded her head, she knew she had to use his weaknesses against him, but she didnt want to hurt the man by bringing up raw memories like she had to during his investigation. they all winced as iruka as thrown to the ground once more. iruka only groaned this time, not bothering to try and get up.

"i think there almost done"

they all nodded as they watched raidou help the chunin off the ground and walk him back to the group. sitting down iruka coughed while bracing his ribs. he was going to be one sore shinobi tomarrow.

"well your not bad, but your not great either"

iruka nodded before commenting.

"i'd really like to hit you right now"

the others laughed as the chunin made his ire known to his teacher. raidou just smiled encouringly to the chunin.

"you'll get to hit me back eventually"

iruka stuck out his tongue as his defence much to the amusement of his fellow shinobi. kakashi rubbed his hands together in glee.

"well you get a break from the physical torture, now you get to deal with her"

he pointed over to kurenai. iruka groaned.

"cant i take a raincheck"

the nin laughed before telling the chunin no, he could not have a raincheck. sighing iruka nodded and asked what kurenai wanted him to do.

"just relax and let me start the illusion, once its started you can try and break it."

iruka nodded and let himself fall into a different world.

**********

iruka looked around, at first he didnt see anything and then it all became clear. he was laying on the forest floor looking at the sky. he smiled for a moment until he registered that he wasnt alone. he knew he needed to look,but another part of his brain told him he wouldnt like what he saw. turning his head to the side his eyes widened.

there before him were the cold dead eyes of an unkown ninja, shivering iruka pulled back away from the body. glancing around he found himself to be alone, just him and the body. then like some sick joke the eyes blinked and the body started to move. realing back in terror he fought against the scene playing out before his eyes. he felt the typical resistance. he fought harder as the body started to crawl towards him, its mouth open to show its bloody teeth. the smell of rot and death all around it. screaming he through himself against the invisible barrier and broke through the illusion.

********

panting iruka took a minute to realize he was back amongst the anbu. looking up startled he glanced around before his eyes made contact with kurenai, frowning a bit he stated.

"zombies really?"

she smiled at him, shaking his head iruka muttered about bad horror movies much to the amusement of the men around him.

"alright iruka lets try something harder, you ready"

sighing he nodded his head and let her pull him into another illusion.

*******

he couldnt see, there was something all over him, sticky and thick. the taste of copper in his mouth. spitting didnt get rid of the horrid taste and rubbing at his eyes did nothing to clear away the fluid flowing from his face. eyes widening iruka knew what was going on, his face hurt. he was bleeding. he distinctly heared the noise of battle around him and the horrible noise of someone gasping for breath. finally clearing his vision enough he saw his dead teammate, struggling to bring in air, the kunai that had once been lodged in his chest lay discarded on the ground. iruka shook his head back and forth in terror he knew what was coming, who was coming.

sure enough a moment passed and his sensei arrive spouting off how the boys had been foolish, he felt the cool hands trying to move his face to get a better look at his wound and just like last time he cried out to his sensei to look at the other boy. the eyes glarred hotly into him, forcing him to shrink back.

"he's dead"

shaking his head he went to twist his head around his sensei only to see that the boy's neck was distinctly twisted, the bones out of place. the boy no longer gasped for breath but lay there with eyes unseeing. again he felt the cold hands pulling him back to the present. he saw the anger on his sensei's face.

"look at what you've done to yourself"

"i-im sorry"

he muttered on instinct anything to make the man not mad at him. somewhere in his mind he registered that the sounds of battle were no longer around them and that his third teammate had dissapeared from the scene along with the dead boy. leaving him all alone with the angry sanin.

"i-"

"look at what you did! now your ruined"

the man shouted, iruka winced and for the first time tried to struggle against the memory of their arguement, it had taken place after they had returned to the village. but he knew what was going to happen and didnt wish to repeat it.

"i'm sorry sensei"

his younger self cried out as the sanin loomed over him. jerking against the illusion he was silently whispering to himself 'its not real its not real' he just couldnt seem to get his mind to focus enough to force kurenai out of his head, out of this memory. he flinched when he felt the sanin grasp his arm, pulling him back to face him

"dont you dare try and run from me boy!"

he shook in his place as he stood before the man who was angry with him. he didnt bother to look to the mans hand he knew what was there. shaking he tried desperatly to pull away from the man's grasp, to get free of the illusion playing out before him. the resistance he met was just too powerful and he was once again shoved back into the body of his younger self. left to feel the snake sanin's wrath. he heard the bone's in his wrist break, felt the snapping one by one, the pain came soon after and he screamed out much to the pleasure of the man before him.

"see what you make me do-your weak, pathetic and useless"

iruka cried out in pain as the arm was twisted, forcing the bones to grind together. he couldnt take the pain it was just too much. he screamed again, this time pleading for mercy.

"i wont do it again i promise"

"and what wont you do again iruka, tell me what you wont do again?"

"i wont i wont try and save them, i promise i promise sensei"

the man threw him to the ground suddenly and stood over the boy.

"you know they hold you back, they are your weakness and i will stomp out every last piece of it myself if i have to iruka."

to make his point the sanin raised his foot and iruka saw black.

*********

iruka fell backwards, only to have someone catch him and lower him to the ground. he could vaguely tell he was crying, but his head hurt so much that he couldnt bring himself to care. he let himself drift in and out for a while.

*******

they watched as kurenai put the man through his paces again, but this time it didnt seem like iruka was going to get out of it, they could tell that he was fighting her, but it didnt seem to be working for the chunin and soon they could see the fear on the man's face. they knew what ever he was facing had to be fierce for the man to show that much terror. when he started to cry they knew that it had to be a memory that kurenai had chosen to use against him. sighing, they got ready to catch the ninja they knew was going to react badly to the jutsu being broken. asuma sat behind kurenai in case she had a bad reaction to the jutsu, but he knew she could handle herself. kakashi sat beside iruka and waited patiently for the genjitsu to break.

when the jutsu broke and iruka started to fall backwards, kakashi easily caught the man and laid him down on the ground. iruka's eyes were closed but based on his rapidly beating heart and the pace of his breathing, he was awake. looking to kurenai he saw the sad smile on her face. she twisted around and hugged asuma, that told them all they needed to know. training was over for today.

"what'd you see?"

asuma asked, kurenai pulled enough away before taking a chance to look at the still comatose chunin before relplying.

"orochimaru was punishing him for helping his teammates, broke his arm in three places and stomped the kids face in"

they winced, that was a harsh reaction to something the genin were supposed to do for one another. but considering who it had come from they werent to shocked that the sanin would consider it a weakness. leaning down kakashi whispered into irukas ear

"its over"

the man nodded, their head brushing against one another at he movement. kakashi watched as brown eyes opened and the chunin sighed. staring up at the sky, it was a beautiful day, the sun was out the birds were chirping, nothing like those memories. smiling he sat up with kakashi's help and reguarded the nervous kurenai. she was about to apologize he could tell so he beat her to the punch.

"i couldnt break those last ones, too strong for me"

she nodded before trying to encourage him.

"you'll get stronger with more practice, we'll go slow"

iruka just smiled at her before glancing around to all the shinobi who had helped to train him today. thanking them for their help before standing albiet a little wobbly and saying that he was going to head back to the apartment. kakashi asked if he would be alright on his own for a little bit and iruka nodded.

"mayonaka is probably hungry by now and i have a little bit of reading to catch up on, i'll see you later."

he waved at them before making his way out of the training grounds and headed back to the apartment where he could seek shelter.

the anbu sighed once the chunin was gone. they had learned alot about him today, his strengths and his weaknesses. now they just had to find a way to work around the man's bad memories to get him ready for his test.

***********

iruka made his way to the apartment, slowly, his whole body hurt and his head was still foggy from the genjitsu. he shuddered as the memories flashed before his eyes again as he walked. shaking his head cleared his eyesight but made his head hurt more. holding himself he was glad when he saw the apartment building in view. climbing the stairs he fished out the key to the apartment and let himself in, only to be greeted by a very enthusiastic iruka. smiling at her he kneeled down albiet wincing as he did to stroke her head. the dog whined at him and he smiled reasuringly to the dog. before climbing back to his feet. he knew what he needed right now and he was determined to get it, especially with kakashi gone.
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