Chapter 181: Cleaning Up the Damage

"You want to save him?" Mizuki laughed. "Don't let him fool you. He treats you like the other students, but he hates you."

Naruto glanced at Iruka.

"Do you know what you are? You're the Nine-Tailed Fox. The monster that wrecked the village twelve years ago and killed all those people. Iruka's parents were among them. Do you still think he cares about you?"

The words seemed to empty the clearing of every other sound.

Naruto had heard adults call him that before. He remembered the looks, the muttering that stopped when he came close, the doors shut against him. If Mizuki was telling the truth, then all of it made sense. They hated him because he really was the fox.

"Iruka-sensei," he said quietly. "Is it true?"

Iruka did not answer at once. He remembered his own teacher's words and the resentment he had once carried into his classroom.

"I used to think of you that way," he said. "Then someone taught me better. He told me not to make a child bear the blame for something he never chose."

Naruto watched him without blinking.

"You aren't the Nine-Tails. Your father was the Fourth Hokage. How could you be the fox? The villagers are frightened. They remember what happened, and they're afraid it will happen again."

"My father..."

Naruto's voice rose.

"My dad was the Fourth Hokage?"

He saw the face on the monument in his mind. The hair, the shape of the eyes—now that he knew to look, the resemblance seemed obvious.

Mizuki clicked his tongue. Iruka had ruined it. There would be no talking the boy into surrendering the scroll now.

"Fine. If you won't hand it over, I'll take it."

Naruto looked back at him, his face suddenly alight.

"My dad was the Fourth! Then I'd better not disgrace him. I'm going to beat you, Mizuki-sensei."

Hidden nearby, Tonbo scratched his head. So he had changed something after all. Naruto should not have learned his father's identity for years. Iruka had put an end to that secret in a single sentence.

"You?" Mizuki said. "You couldn't even graduate."

His shuriken were already in flight. Iruka had often repeated his teacher's warning that a moment's carelessness could kill a shinobi. Mizuki had listened. Even the Academy's worst student would not find him unprepared.

Naruto met the weapons with shuriken of his own. Metal rang against metal. Before the scattered blades reached the ground, his hands came together.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"

Smoke burst through the clearing, among the trees, along the branches overhead. As it thinned, Naruto stood everywhere Mizuki looked. Every face wore the same eager grin.

"Rule fifteen, Mizuki-sensei," they said together. "Always give your all against an enemy. Are you ready?"

Hands reached for weapons all around him.

"Impossible."

Mizuki threw several kunai into the ring of Narutos. One of them stepped forward and knocked the blades aside.

They were solid.

An ordinary clone could not have done that. Yet no Academy student should have possessed enough chakra to create so many shadow clones. Mizuki backed away, searching for an opening that was no longer there.

Naruto gave him no time to find one. Trying to keep up with Kiba had made him train harder, and his tactics had improved with the practice. Now he had the numbers to put them to use. When Mizuki turned against one attack, another reached him from the side. Weapons and explosive tags cleared brief spaces in the crowd, but more clones filled them at once.

Tonbo watched with growing appreciation. Each shadow clone could fight with Naruto's own skill. One successful hit might dispel it, but a successful hit against a real body could kill that body too. The difficulty lay in landing enough blows while an entire force attacked together.

Without a technique broad enough to destroy them in numbers, Mizuki had no answer. He fell beneath their attack and did not get up again.

The clones disappeared. Naruto stood panting in the clearing, while Mizuki lay bloodied on the ground.

Iruka raised a thumb. "Well done, Naruto."

"Of course! I'm the Fourth Hokage's son."

Naruto wiped his nose, still grinning. Then another thought reached him. The Fourth was the village's hero, but the Fourth was dead. His father was dead.

"A thief and a fool," said a familiar voice. "What a pair you make."

Tonbo stepped into view. Iruka hunched his shoulders.

"Uncle Tonbo! Did you see all those clones?" Naruto burst out. "And my dad was the Fourth Hokage!"

"I saw. You were bold enough to steal the Scroll of Seals, too. The Hokage will have something to say about that. First, I'd like a word with your teacher."

He stopped before Iruka with an unpleasantly cheerful smile.

"How does it feel to be beaten by someone like Mizuki? Anything you'd care to tell us?"

"Sensei..."

"Have you been in the classroom so long that you've forgotten how to fight? You were unprepared, he knew your methods, and you let him dictate the whole encounter. Why did he know your hidden techniques in the first place? Did you forget who taught you?"

"He was trying to protect me," Naruto protested. "You don't have to talk to him like that."

Tonbo turned his smile on Naruto. "You should be deciding what to tell the Hokage. Stealing that scroll is a serious crime."

Naruto gave a small, awkward laugh. "I'll confess."

"Look at the result of neglecting your skills, Iruka. Your student is nearly as bad as you are. From now on, you'll come to me for special training every few days."

Iruka opened his mouth, then closed it.

"Tessen Togekei is a jōnin and married. Mibu Shinobu is close to becoming a special jōnin, and I hear he's found a girlfriend. You don't take missions, you haven't married, and with all that time you still produce this."

He gestured toward Naruto.

"Can you stop including me?" Naruto asked. He had just beaten Mizuki. Surely that counted for something.

Several shinobi appeared at the edge of the clearing.

"We've found Naruto. Captain Tobitake?"

"Take him and Mizuki back. Leave Iruka with me."

Naruto went without arguing. He knew he had done wrong, whatever Mizuki had promised him, and Tonbo's warning had taken some of the pleasure out of his victory.

When they were gone, Tonbo gave Iruka a dose of his secret medicine and used Self-Repair to help his injured body recover. Mizuki's kick had been vicious; Iruka's resilience as a shinobi had spared him worse damage.

Iruka sat very still and said nothing. His teacher had not finished looking at him.