Chapter 180: Between Teacher and Student

Tonbo crossed the rooftops, found Naruto with a brief sweep of his senses, and changed direction.

He had no intention of spoiling Hiruzen's arrangement. Curiosity had brought him out. He remembered how this episode had unfolded in the story he once knew; seeing it happen before his eyes was another matter, especially with the changes he had made himself.

Iruka was his student now. Surely he would not lose to Mizuki quite so easily. Naruto had friends at the Academy, too, and sometimes played with Tenyu and Maki. Yet someone had still persuaded him to steal the Scroll of Seals. Tonbo wanted to know what had gone through the boy's head.

And how had Hiruzen steered Mizuki into the scheme? The Hokage had suspected him of killing his teammates without having enough evidence to act. If the old man had found his proof and turned Mizuki's ambitions to his own use, he could settle two problems at once.

Several chakra signatures lay ahead. Tonbo used his illusion-assisted Body Flicker to approach without drawing their attention.

Iruka knew nothing of the Hokage's plan. He had found Naruto and then taken the boy's appearance to draw Mizuki away. Now he was running through the trees with Mizuki close behind.

"Give me the scroll, Naruto."

"No!"

Shuriken cut across Iruka's path. He swerved past them and the kunai mixed into the attack, but Mizuki pulled hard on fine wires trailing from the weapons. The lines crossed behind the fleeing figure and snapped tight.

A log took Iruka's place inside the snare.

"A substitution?" Mizuki sneered. "You must have had very bad luck in your examination."

Before Iruka could gain more ground, Mizuki vanished from his sight. A kick struck him from behind and sent him tumbling. The transformation broke as he rolled to a stop.

Tonbo put a hand over his face.

Was Mizuki stronger than he remembered, or had Iruka forgotten everything Tonbo had taught him? Either possibility was embarrassing. Iruka should have been a capable chūnin.

A small figure moved in the shadows. Naruto had seen his teacher fall; his hands were clenched, his eyes fixed on the clearing.

Mizuki's expression darkened. "Iruka? Where's Naruto?"

Iruka pushed himself up, blood at the corner of his mouth. "Mizuki, stop this. You can still turn back. I'll speak to the Hokage for you. He may be willing to reduce your punishment."

"Punishment? For what?"

Mizuki's voice rose sharply.

"I killed two teammates to finish a mission. The mission comes first. That's what we teach at the Academy, isn't it? Yet I've spent years as an ordinary instructor. It doesn't matter what I do. No promotion, no opportunity, nothing."

Iruka kept his gaze on him. Mizuki barely seemed to notice.

"The White Fang abandoned a mission to save his comrades, and the village turned on him for it. I completed mine, and the village punished me too. Explain that. If what I did was wrong, why did they destroy him for doing the opposite?"

His eyes narrowed upon Iruka.

"And you. An orphan with no one behind him, until Captain Tobitake took you as his student. Suddenly you were advancing faster than me. What made you worth more? His name?"

Iruka began a hand seal.

"Once I have the techniques in that scroll, I won't need any of you," Mizuki said. "I'll surpass you and go to Lord Orochimaru. He'll recognize what I can do."

He laughed, but his gaze remained on Iruka's hands.

"Don't bother. I've been your good friend for years, remember? I know your techniques. You can't beat me."

Shuriken flashed from his fingers. They struck the kunai lodged around the clearing and knocked them from their positions.

"Fire Line Cut. That's your best technique, isn't it? You were going to kill me with it. So there's still a shinobi somewhere beneath the schoolteacher."

Iruka's attack had failed before he could release it.

"You learned to guard against enemies," Mizuki said. "You never learned to guard against a friend."

Tonbo stared at his student. Iruka had trusted Mizuki enough to show him even his hidden methods. All the instruction Tonbo had given him might as well have been delivered to Mizuki too.

For a moment, Tonbo wondered whether events were trying to force themselves back into the course he remembered. He had changed Iruka's abilities, yet here was Mizuki taking him apart. Then the simpler explanation asserted itself: Mizuki knew exactly what Iruka could do, and Iruka had never imagined that knowledge being used against him.

Mizuki reached behind his shoulder and drew the giant shuriken from his back.

"Go and see your parents, Iruka. I'll take the scroll and make my name somewhere else."

The weapon left his hand with a heavy, spinning hum.

"Mizuki! You won't get away with this!"

A blond figure dropped into its path. Both feet struck the flat center of the shuriken and drove it into the ground. Naruto flipped clear and landed beside Iruka, the great scroll strapped across his back.

"Iruka-sensei, are you all right?"

"Naruto? Get out of here!"

Mizuki was smiling again. His gaze had settled on the scroll.

"There you are. Bring it here."

Naruto did not move. "Mizuki-sensei. Why did you attack him?"

"That doesn't concern you. Give me the scroll."

"Were you trying to kill Iruka-sensei?"

Mizuki held out his hand. "Naruto."

"No. You lied to me. You only wanted this."

Naruto's fists tightened. He could not understand how Mizuki, who had always seemed so close to Iruka, could have thrown that weapon at him. He understood even less why a teacher had deceived him. But Iruka was one of the few people in Konoha who treated him kindly, and Mizuki had just tried to kill him.

"I'm not giving it to you."