Chapter 89

KURENAI

Ino is running to meet the beautiful Jōnin-sensei at the entrance of the Hospital. Kurenai smirks as the girl isn't running because she's late, but because she wants to be right on time, and Kurenai is amused by that. Ino stops before her at eleven on the dot, before she bids her good morning and they walk to the recovery ward. After the nurse confirms with Iruka that he's up for visitors, the kunoichi walk into his room.

Kurenai and Ino had already heard the lower half of his body is paralyzed, though knowing it and seeing it are two completely different things. It was hard for them to see. For Kurenai, this is a fellow sensei and comrade who was injured protecting a student from a traitorous sensei. And for Ino, the nice Chūnin had been her teacher for years. To see a man who taught her the principles, the foundations, of what it means to be a Konoha ninja, so broken was heart-wrenching.

Though the bed is the standard hospital bed, soft shapes are placed around his form to keep him upright with his limbs properly bent. Iruka smiles at their entrance as he raises the back of the bed to make facing them easier. "To be visited by one of my best pupils and the Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha," Iruka sings. "How did I get so lucky to see such beautiful ladies today?"

"That's kind of you to say Umino-sensei," Kurenai starts while Ino smiles mournfully at the compliment.

"Please, Iruka is fine," he asserts with a wave. "Have a seat. What can I do for you?"

After moving seats close to his bed, Kurenai explains from the beginning. "Some weeks back, I enlisted the help of Uzumaki Naruto. It was a mundane task but I've since had many chances to speak with him and he's mentioned you a number of times." Iruka chuckles with a wide grin as Kurenai adds, "to hear him talk, you were the only sensei in the Academy."

"Yeah, well, he's was a troublesome one, but I was happy to learn he has a good heart," Iruka happily expresses.

"I have to admit, Umino-"

"Iruka," he repeats.

"Iruka-san," Kurenai corrects with a small smile. "He's mentioned some things that don't make sense."

"Such as," Iruka wonders, though he likely knows.

"His education is of special interest to me, or the lack thereof," Kurenai begins. "I've come to learn that not long after he graduated, he can tree-walk, water-walk, perform A-Rank jutsu, and he seems to have an absurd amount of chakra. His Kage Bunshin, in particular, can last far longer than what would normally be life-threatening to the majority of shinobi, and he seems to have an unfathomable potential to learn, which completely contradicts his class rank."

"You're kidding," Iruka gasps, taking each remark about his favored student with more and more brow-raising astonishment. "Are you sure we're talking about the same Naruto? Blond spiky hair, blue eyes, whisker birthmarks?"

The raven-haired beauty nods and adds, "somehow, he learned on his own the reason he couldn't do the Bunshin no Jutsu is because on top of having large chakra reserves, he has large Tenketsu and I don't have to tell you how exceedingly difficult it would be for him to attempt justsu that only requires a minimal amount of chakra."

"No, yes," Iruka hums in deep contemplation. "Like trying to accurately tip a full barrel of water into a teaspoon without spilling. He'd have an easier time learning S-Rank jutsu than D-Rank."

A monumentally bewildered Ino tries to make sense of this information, crunching her face confused as she asks, "excuse me, sensei, but are you trying to say that Naruto is actually strong? Like he's been strong this whole time even though he failed to graduate three times and is the Dead Last of our class?"

"Oh, how I hate that title," Iruka mumbles. Despite having used it many times herself, Kurenai is growing more and more tired of hearing it as well, especially to describe Naruto. Iruka then explains to the platinum-blond genin, "Ino-chan, rather than thinking of the Academy's final test as the ultimate authority on the intelligence or ability of every single student, wonder instead if standardized tests only work with standard shinobi."

"Um," Ino hums trying to understand, then asking, "you mean to say that Naruto isn't normal. Like Kurenai-sensei said, his tenketsus are apparently larger, meaning he would have a hard time utilizing low chakra techniques."

"Yes," he agrees with a proud smile, and adds, "but more than that, more than Naruto's specific example. If the final test was instead the Nara's Shadow Bind, how well do you think others would perform then? What if the final test was water-walking? How well do you think Naruto-kun would do? It's not unlike judging a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Why wouldn't everyone in the class, including the fish, not believe it has no talent after failing such a simple test?"

"All students can learn and succeed, Ino-chan, but not all at the same time and in the same ways," Kurenai reinforces, happy to know there are some instructors out there who are genuinely passionate about teaching.

"I guess, but he still did poorly in class," Ino cautiously points out. She's smart enough to see both these sensei have positive opinions of Naruto despite the mountain of evidence, or maybe a hill of evidence at this point, that says otherwise.

"Is there any credibility to the grading of his tests?" Kurenai asks, recalling Hinata's claims of unfairness when grading his tests. "I've been informed that despite answering questions correctly, he still receives zeros."

"Ah," Iruka says with clear embarrassment. "While I wouldn't say he answers everything correctly, I can, in fact, confirm that behavior among the staff."

"Can you tell me which instructor," Kurenai asks.

"All of them," Iruka sadly states. "Any sensei that can use tests to reinforce their bias of him, did so repeatedly. What's more is if his text manuals were ever lost or stolen, he would not be issued another one."

Still irate by her experience in his sandals at the market, to only hear about how he was apparently treated in school, Ino couldn't help but ask, "so then how-"