Chapter 3 – The Other Teachers

Date: January 22nd, 13 years following the Kyuubi's attack

Time: 11 AM

The delicious scent of fresh baking breads, muffins, and other flour-based products escaped into the streets of Konoha as the flawless glass-like door to the Tanaka Family Bakery slid open. The bakery had been a staple of the village since it had opened some 50 years earlier. It was only in the last five weeks, however, that the structure had been completely renovated into a stonework building with large windows of uncommon clarity that allowed onlookers to see not only all of the bakery's wares, but also the kitchen area to see all the product as they were prepared.

Okito Tanaka, a small mountain of a man and the eldest child of the proprietors of the bakery, stepped out onto the street. He wore the dark blue uniform that was standard wear for ninja of Konoha in his age group with a chocolate brown combat vest with a combination forehead protector/do-rag and was clean-shaven save for a triangular-cut goatee. Okito was the only Tanaka in the last three generations capable of manipulating chakra and was proud of the fact that he was able to serve his village as a ninja.

"Have a good day, Onii-san." Naru Tanaka, the older of his two younger siblings, called from the counter.

Okito nodded, holding up the bag of fresh-baked goodies in his left hand. "Later, Naru-chan. Thanks for the idea."

His sister looked him up and down and frowned slightly. "Aren't you going to take Amakuni Kongosoha with you? It is your trademark weapon, after all."

"I'm merely meeting with my new Genin, not facing a group of rogue-nin. Besides…" A wry smile creased his face. Amakuni Kongosoha was the name of his Kogarasu Maru-style double-edged tachi that he'd crafted with his Kekkei Genkai skills. "I don't want to intimidate them too much on the first day. I'll be home in time for the evening rush." He slid the door shut and started walking to the Konoha Ninja Academy.

At the end of the block, he made a turn and the Hokage Cliff, with its four carved faces, came into view. No matter how many times he saw it, the scene was breathtaking and awe-inspiring. Okito took a deep breath. "This is going to be a good day..."

Tanaka walked in his customary silence as he took a slightly roundabout path to his destination – he had plenty of time to get over to the Academy – to refresh his memory of the village layout: he'd been out on a special assignment issued by Sarutobi-sensei for the last four years. The village hadn't changed much aside from the usual urban renewals that come with a thriving economy.

As he turned the corner by the Hyuuga clan compound, a woman with long hair with purple ribbons braided in stepped out onto the street. She wore a purple jacket with white sleeves and black pants that were form-fitting on her incredible figure. He grinned to himself as he recognized her. He gave off a wolfish whistle that was half serious, half joking. "That must be jam, 'cause jelly don't shake like that, Bya-chan!"

The woman stopped in her tracks and spun around. "Yaiba-kun!" Miho Hyuuga cried with a smile that lit up her face. Okito was a good friend and she rather enjoyed his joking attempts at bad pickup lines. "When did you get back in town?"

"A few weeks ago; I heard that you just made Jonin instructor, congratulations."

She grinned at him. "Hokage-sama told you?"

Okito grimaced slightly. "Actually, we're not really talking at the moment. At least not socially."

"What happened?" Hyuuga asked in surprise; Tanaka had been one of the Hokage's personal guards for a time.

"I accepted a new tasking - Jonin instructor for new graduates, like you. Anyways I wanted to have Uzumaki on my team, but Sarutobi-sensei had other plans for him. We got into a bit of a heated debate and I went a bit too far in my attempt to convince him."

She tilted her head slightly. "You always were a bit overzealous."

He grinned ruefully. "True enough. Anyways, feelings have been bent a bit, but I have to admit that maybe I was projecting too much of my own childhood to be level-headed enough to not give him special treatment. And I must admit that the trio he's assigned me does seem to be a better fit for me. One of them I have a special interest in..."

Miho rubbed her eyes. "I'm really behind the power curve... I barely know my own students' files, let alone the other students in this graduating class - I didn't even know that Uzumaki had made it."

"Well, that's the interesting thing." Okito said. "He was given a special dispensation by Clown-kun."

"Iruka gave a student a special dispensation?" Miho asked, surprised. "Even considering how close he and Naruto have been, that's really incredible."

"Well, the story is even wilder." Tanaka said, getting into his storyteller routine. "It's pretty long, so I'll tell you while we walk. It started with Mizuki-sensei..."

* * *

"...and they patched Umino up and added Naruto's name onto the list of this year's candidate Genin." Tanaka finished as the Ninja Academy came into view.

Miho looked at Tanaka in disbelief. "A GENIN managed to learn the Kage Bushin?"

Okito nodded. "Well, let's face it – as a Jinchuuriki, not to mention that he's of the Uzumaki clan, he potentially has a lot of chakra at his command. Even in their prime, it would take all four Hokages combined to generate that many shadow clones. Heck, I get wiped out when I try for more than fifteen and he managed almost one hundred based on Iruka's estimate and the Hokage's remote viewing of the situation."

There were a dozen or so other ninja standing in the courtyard of the Academy as Miho and Okito approached. "Yuuhi-chan!" Miho said, waving a hand at her long-time friend, Yuuhi Kurenai.

Kurenai turned from her conversation with Asuma Sarutobi. "Miho-chan!" Kurenai was four years older than Miho, but they'd always been good friends. "Congratulations! A Jonin instructor at twenty-three, impressive work!" Sarutobi nodded agreement, the gesture knocking the ash off his ever-present cigarette.

In the nearly 14 years since the Third Great Ninja War had ended, Konoha had slowed the process of rising to the higher levels. Partially due to Itachi Uchiha's betrayal and slaughter of his clan, Hiruzen wanted to get better reads on people before promoting them.

"Any idea where Iruka is?" Okito asked the others.

Asuma shook his head. "He's running late, which is unusual for him... He's usually on time." A sudden pressure in the air caused the group of Jonin to perk up. Asuma turned to look at the school. "That's a pretty strong surge of chakra..."

"And it's not one of the instructors." Okito agreed. "But it's more tightly controlled than one would expect from a student..." He looked at Miho Hyuuga. "Bya-chan, is it the Uchiha?"

Miho's eyes tightened as she activated her Kekkei Genkai. She began scanning the building, focusing on the classroom area. Her eyes widened in surprise "No. Actually, it looks like someone's tied him up..." Several of the others started murmuring in surprise. "Oh; he's freed himself. Nice use of the escape technique."

Kurenai looked at her friend. "So where's this chakra coming from?"

Hyuuga turned a bit more. "Throwing practice courtyard... I count four people: Iruka and three students." She blinked. "Wow... One of them is using the Body Flicker; I don't know who it is – I'm not familiar enough with the current year's class to recognize him – but Iruka doesn't look too worried about the situation."

"Well, let's go to him." One of the other Jonin said. "I want to get going." The group of Jonin started walking down the old familiar hallways of their youth, heading in the direction of the training ground that Miho Hyuuga had specified.

After a few minutes' walk, they opened the sliding door to the training ground. "Ah, here he is." Tanaka said aloud to catch Iruka's attention.

Iruka was standing with three Genin: two, a young man and a young woman, had in white and blue clothing and a young man in red and black. The girl and the boy in red and black were standing near each other, looking slightly dumbstruck at the third Genin. Tanaka instantly recognized them: Nakahito Haruno, Kimiko Itou and Sho Inugami.

Umino turned to the door. "Huh, is it already that late?" He turned back to the paired Genin and said some final words that Tanaka couldn't quite hear.

"It was the boy in white." Miho whispered to Okito, Yuuhi, and Asuma. "He's the only one that I didn't see before."

Okito stared at the apprentice medical ninja in disbelief. "Him? That's impossible… Inugami's record doesn't show any sign of that level of skill. If he had, I would have considered him for my team!"

Kurenai and Sarutobi nodded. "His book work marks were high," Asuma agreed, "but his level of practical application skill were barely better than Uzumaki's or Nara's." The Hokage's son shook his head. "It's hard to believe that he could - or would, for that matter - hide the skill that we just sensed."

Okito nodded. "I understand why Hokage-sama grouped those three together, but their individual personalities are so radically different from each other. The person assigned to lead that team is really going to have their work cut out for them."

"Good!" Iruka said to the two graduates that looked rather shell-shocked. He paused, trying to look through the group. "Ah, Miho-san, are you in there somewhere?"

Tanaka looked at Miho Hyuuga, equal parts sympathy and surprise. "You? Sarutobi-sensei assigned Team 13 to you?"

Miho nodded. "He told me the squad number and gave the files on them, but I haven't had a chance to really go over them yet, so I didn't recognize them. I'll see the three of you later." She gave a wistful smile of parting to her friends as she worked her way through the group into the open air courtyard.

"Father apparently must have taken Kakashi's recommendation highly for him to have given her such a diverse group of Genin." Asuma said. "Especially for her first try..."

Okito nodded agreement. "On the other hand, the last of the Itou is on that team. If she is able to activate her Kekkei Genkai, who better than someone who has a similar ability to try and help teach it. It's the same reason that he gave Uchiha to Kakashi. Though why he paired Uzumaki with the Uchiha I can't guess."

Yuuhi nodded. "Makes sense on the Kekkei Genkai. But Sarutobi-sensei has always had a soft spot for Naruto; maybe he thinks Kakashi can whip the boy into shape…"

Miho finally reached Iruka through the crowd of Jonin. The instructor smiled at his old classmate. "I was surprised to see you on the list of Jonin instructors for this year, Miho-chan! When did you get promoted?"

"Just a few days ago," Hyuuga's honeyed alto voice said with a beaming grin on her face. "Apparently Kakashi-sempai felt I'd earned it."

A moue of thought appeared on Umino's face. "I really don't know Kakashi all that well; I doubt I've talked to him more than once or twice…" He looked over in the crowd of teachers, his eyes narrowing in focus. "Is he here?"

Miho shook her head, the ribbons in her hair rippling with the movement. "Afraid not, but I have a pretty good idea where he is… I'll take my new team with me and send him over as soon as possible."

"Yeah, your team…" Iruka said in a strained tone of voice. "If ever there was an example of two parts water to one part oil, it's your team… I don't envy you trying to make them a cohesive unit."

She shrugged slightly. "They'll either fall in line or I'll send them back for remedial education… Not everyone is mentally prepared to be shinobi even though their skills say they are."

"True enough." Iruka admitted, turning to the three graduates and gesturing to Miho. "Team 13, meet Miho Hyuuga; she'll be your Jonin instructor going forward." He looked back at Miho. "Dinner later? We've got a lot to catch up on."

She smiled. "I'd like that. Anywhere but Ichiraku's though; I've eaten enough ramen and survival rations for one decade."

"Deal." Iruka said, walking back to the other instructors.

Miho stepped up to her team looking back and forth between the oil – Sho Inugami – and the water – Kimiko Itou and Nakahito Haruno – to use Iruka's comparison. "Let's go somewhere more comfortable to get to know each other…" She paused as she noticed the bruising on Nakahito's forehead and had to bite back a laugh. "You might want to cover that with your Leaf band before we go out in public, Bakamono-san…" Nakahito grimaced, covering the bruising, as Sho began to laugh again. "Try to keep up!"

Miho Hyuuga and Team 13 jumped into the air, leaving the Iruka and the others behind.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, everyone." Umino said, walking up to the remaining Jonin. "The teams should be back in the classrooms by now, so if you'll follow me, please." Iruka moved through the group and began leading the Jonin, putting him just in front of Okito, Yuuhi, and Asuma.

"That was an interesting display by Inugami, eh, Clown-kun?" Tanaka asked Iruka playfully.

"So you guys sensed it, huh?" Iruka asked rhetorically, getting nods from the new cadre of instructors. "It's a sign that some interesting times are ahead of us... Some of the most promising students have come through this year - even more than last year. I mean once-in-a-generation type promise: Sasuke Uchiha, Kimiko Itou, Sakura Haruno, Takahashi, Raiden Hata, and even Naruto Uzumaki."

"I understand Mizuki told him the secret..." Okito said. "How's Uzumaki handling it?"

Iruka-sensei sighed. "Naruto is Naruto... He puts on a great facade at times, but it's not always easy to tell what he's really thinking… When he bothers to think, that is. At other times, however, he has his heart on his sleeve. He hasn't spoken of it since that night, so he seems to be taking it in stride like he usually does." A grin of pride appeared on his face. "On the other hand, it's made him even more determined to get the village's respect as a great ninja."

"Good for him!" Tanaka said with a smile.

Iruka stopped at one of the classrooms, sliding the door open. He glanced around the room. "Teams 8, 10 and 11. Front and center." Nine Genin walked down to the floor of the classroom as Iruka lead the Jonin into the room.

"Team 8: Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzaka, and Shino Aburame." Three of the nine stepped forward. Iruka gestured to Yuuhi Kurenai. "Starting today, Kurenai-sensei will be your primary instructor; good luck to you all." The three Genin gave a polite bow to Iruka-sensei as Yuuhi lead them out of the classroom's second entrance.

"Team 10: Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Chouji Akimichi." Another trio stepped forward: one was a thin blond girl who looked at the other two with no small amount of contempt and annoyance. "Sarutobi-sensei here has been assigned to supervise the three of you." He gestured to Asuma.

Asuma looked over his three students and nodded. "All right... Follow me." Team 10 nodded in passing to Iruka as they followed their new instructor out of the classroom.

Iruka looked at the final three Genin. "And finally, Team 11: Takahashi, Motoko Hata, Raiden Hata." The three members of Team 11 straightened up as Iruka-sensei called their names.

The young man known only as Takahashi stood at one end, garbed in very simple garb: a light gray vest over a dark gray jumpsuit with royal blue edging on both parts, along with a loose sash made of blue silk hanging from right shoulder to left hip. Takahashi was a very serious-looking young man; he kept his long blond hair pulled into to a ponytail and had a long-healed scar running from his jaw on the left side up to where it disappeared under his headband.

The Hata twins, on the other hand, were less somber than their teammate. Motoko Hata was the elder of the twins by a whole five minutes. She wore her sunrise orange/red hair pulled into a barely-tamed ponytail that touched, but did not extend past, her shoulders held in place by a sunlight yellow ribbon. She wore a body-hugging monoskin that was primarily evergreen, but also had yellow, gray and black sections that accentuated her figure and her glistening green eyes. She carried a straight-edged short sword that was held with a thick yellow sash.

Her twin brother, Raiden, also had a green and yellow shirt like his sister, but his outfit had more dark gray and navy blue than the warmer colors Motoko wore. He kept his own hair cropped short with his bangs being the longest section to fall over his forehead protector. While he was the younger sibling, he stood an extra inch taller than Motoko, equal to Takahashi in height.

Iruka gestured to Okito. "Tanaka-sensei has been assigned as the Jonin instructor for your group." He smiled at them. "I hope you'll show him the same respect you've shown me."

"Hai, Iruka-sensei!" Motoko agreed, giving him a formal bow while the two young men just gave a slight nod.

Okito smiled. Motoko's file said that she always acted as a proper woman, typically to make up for her twin brother's lack of social grace altogether. "All right, Team 11. Let's move." He said, giving his Genin their first official orders.