AN: This was rotting away in my drive, so I took it, modified it, and proofread it (probably not correctly). To those coming here from Sign Here for ANBU, chapter 16 is currently being beta-read. It's a very big chapter so it requires time. Chapter 17 is even being worked on.

I do not know if it'll go much further than that. I have a second chapter I could rework. If you are interested, do tell me. I hope you enjoy.

Naruto gritted his teeth, hard enough for the muscles of his jaw to start hurting and squeezed his fist until his knuckles cracked and his nails bit into his palm. The laughter echoed around in the dojo as the kid lay defeated on the ground, his blond hair shadowing his blue eyes. The Uchiha had once again done a number on him.

"You lost." The voice of the raven-haired, dark-eyed boy was calm and contained no mockery, just plain factuality and maybe a hint of arrogance. In any other circumstances, Naruto would have admitted his defeat graciously. The spar had been fair and Sasuke was not lording his victory over him so that was fine by Naruto.

If it were not for the other children and the unsavoury nickname they were chanting, the boy would have walked away, honest.

"Yeah dobe, you lost, you suck, get lost!" the little refrain was an invention of the blond Ino Yamanaka.

Quite the disagreeable person, Naruto had branded her in his mind, staying polite. And exactly the kind of sneer that caused him to not admit defeat so easily. The eight years old boy was not a sore loser, far from it. But being used to wipe the floor was one thing, being reminded of it by people less capable than him was another.

"Shut up Ino-pig, talk when you can win against me!" Naruto retorted heatedly. That shut the Yamanaka girl's mouth.

The blue-eyed, blond boy was ahead of the majority of his peers as far as taijutsu was concerned. The only four who could best him were Sasuke Uchiha and Kiba Inuzuka, who always won, and Shino Aburame and Choji Akimichi, who he could defeat. That was saying something, given that all four kids came from highly respected ninja clans of their village, having received training way before anyone from civilian birth. Considering Naruto was an orphan without any training beyond the first three months in the ninja academy, it was mildly impressive even.

Naruto had absorbed the taijutsu basics like a sponge would absorb water. That, combined with naturally high endurance and resilience he should not have possessed at his age, made him a powerhouse in his class. But taijutsu was his only saving grace and after three months in the ninja academy, Naruto had earned the moniker of "dead last" for his disastrous results in all other subjects. All things considered, it was the truth. Naruto was the only one who did not even know how to properly read, write and count among his classmates, much less do mathematics properly or read a map.

"Enough, all of you !" Iruka, the class' sensei, thundered, looming menacingly behind the children. "Naruto, don't let yourself be led by the nose, you fought well. Ino, Naruto is crude but right: your taijutsu is not good enough that you can mock Naruto's performance. Both of you, what did I tell you about unsavoury nicknames ?" The harsh tone of the sensei came down a few notches and calmed. "Sasuke, Naruto, make the sign of reconciliation."

The blond kid sprung on his feet and after dusting himself off for a second, extended his hand reluctantly toward the Uchiha heir, his fingers folded on his palm save for the index and middle fingers, forming a slight hook.

"Well fought but next time I'll win."

"Keep dreaming dobe," Sasuke answered with assurance.

"Teme !" The blond growled, the upper corners of his mouth lifting ever so slightly to reveal sharp canines.

"No insulting each other during the reconciliation you two, it's not a reconciliation otherwise!" Iruka said, rolling his eyes behind his right hand, presently squashed against his face. "And if you keep at it, you'll stay after class to copy lines!" The man threatened the boys.

The blond and the raven-haired boy complied and Iruka withheld a sigh. What was he going to do with these two mavericks?

"Alright, time's up you all. I want you to stretch, otherwise, you'll have muscle pain tomorrow and I won't accept it as an excuse for you to skip class. Then off to change and you're free to go."

The children nodded as one, then assembled in a row in front of their sensei, before bowing in front of him, a salute the sensei returned.

"Thank you for your class sensei!" The twenty-one students of the class number "1-A" chanted all together. The professor smiled.

Half an hour later, the students had stretched and changed, a few using the showers that equipped the changing room. Naruto, wearing his one of a kind, orange tracksuit, found himself in the office of his sensei. The blond kid lived in the academy itself, in one of the few rooms reserved for orphaned children who attended the ninja school, and he had no urge to go to his room.

Whether he was with Iruka-sensei or alone in his room, he would be facing the same enemy anyway: boredom. Or was it staying still that Naruto positively hated?

"Say, Iruka-sensei, won't you teach me some cool jutsu?" The blond eight-years-old eventually asked.

The teacher grinned, holding back his laughter, and lifted his gaze from the class he was preparing to look at the boy. "That'd be difficult Naruto. You need to learn how to consciously access and knead your chakra first."

"Then teach me Iruka-sensei!"

"No can do Naruto, not before another three months."

An unpleased, sour expression took hold of the kid's visage and he crossed his arm in front of his chest, visibly pouting.

"That's no fair sensei! Sasuke teme knows how to do that already! His parents-"

"Naruto, what did I tell you about calling your classmates names?" The tone of the man was demanding and dry, displeased. The professor and his student battled for a second by glaring at each other before the blonde averted his eyes.

"I mustn't," finally answered the child, looking cowed.

"Exactly."

"That's no fair sensei, you let Sasuke call me dobe! That's not nice."

"Naruto, remind me what I did last time Sasuke called you that and you had the grace to keep your mouth shut?"

A silence answered and for a few seconds, only the scratching of Iruka's pen against a sheet of paper could be heard.

"You gave him lines to copy." A contrite silence settled itself between the two. "That's also no fair. They can all write and read better than me! Nobody ever taught me that good!" Naruto exclaimed sullenly, his face contorted in a pout. "They have a family to help them learn! I'd like to see them, doing all that without help! They would be the dobe, not me!"

Iruka eyed the boy intently and sighed very slowly. The professor couldn't help but admire the kid. There were envy and a bit of rancour in his voice, for sure, but who could blame him? Naruto was one of the very rare orphans of Konoha who, for some reason, was not benefiting from the clan-foster act and as such, his upbringing had been rough.

The only other boy Iruka knew to be in the same situation was named Rock Lee, a boy a year older than Naruto, who suffered from a peculiar handicap. Yet even Rock Lee had drawn the attention of a jonin no less and received support from the elite ninja, as irregular as it might be. Nearly all other children orphaned by the Catastrophe eight years ago were fostered by various powerful ninja clans, as per a law passed by the chief of Konohagakure village, the Third Hokage.

Ninja clans had the riches and the people to ensure the education of that many children and in exchange, the Third Hokage had lowered their due taxes for twenty years for each child fostered. To Iruka's knowledge, the only clan that had categorically refused was the Hyuuga clan, whose head had argued that they could not teach their techniques to those not of their blood. The Third Hokage had agreed but raised their taxes in response.

Naruto knew nothing about all that. The blond boy was alone, had been raised for the first seven years of his life in the, probably crowded still, village orphanage, and sent to live on his own in the academy's dormitory, once he had joined the school. It was the way for all orphan in Konohagakure: to repay the village for their care, they had to attend the academy and do their best to graduate. The Catastrophe had simply engorged the one orphanage Konoha possessed, necessitating the Third Hokage to pass his special law.

What Iruka could not really wrap his head around why was Naruto had such shaky basics. He could understand the matrons being overworked but it felt like the blond had taught himself rather than someone teaching incompletely.

The one person who appeared to care remotely for the boy was the Third Hokage himself, Hiruzen Sarutobi. The old man was grandfatherly and a fierce believer in the Will of Fire, and Iruka himself could remember the kind Hokage visiting the orphanage and the academy regularly when he had been a kid. Maybe the Hokage caring for Naruto was simply part of his mission as the leader of Konohagakure, Iruka could not truly tell. The old man did seem like he had a special interest in the blond boy but again, he had been helpful and attentive with Iruka too.

There were all kind of rumours surrounding Naruto though and maybe the Hokage was trying to fight them by associating with the boy. It did not help for everything, as some of the whispers pegged Naruto as an illegitimate child of the Sarutobi clan, something ludicrous in Iruka's opinion. The Third Hokage had been a womanizer long ago according to his legend but the old man was far past his prime. And the boy was blond when everyone knew the Sarutobis were dark-haired.

Some rumours were darker and depicted the blue-eyed boy as the origin for the Catastrophe. For the sole reason that the blond kid was born on the same day, people were stupid enough to spread horrible, unfounded rumours about him. One of the most ludicrous, in Iruka's opinion, accused Naruto of being the accursed Scourge. Or the Scourge was Naruto, the teacher was not clear on that.

When the brown-haired sensei had first met the blond child, all he had seen was a kid as sad as a lone rock under heavy rain, masking his pain under the most cheerful facade Iruka had ever seen anyone build. Some adults were weaker than this child, about that, the sensei had no doubt. And despite the loss of his parents to the Scourge, Iruka had not been able to put any faith in the rumours. The kid was like he had been, not so long ago: as loud as he could be to cover the deafening silence of loneliness. The teacher had instantly felt sympathetic.

After three months in school, respect had joined sympathy. Little Naruto was thirsty for knowledge just as much as he was determined to prove himself after seeing how most of his classmates were above him in term of knowledge. And despite the moniker his comrade had given him, he was far from being anywhere stupid. Naruto had just not benefited from the same conditions as the other kids. And the blond boy was apparently determined to do his best in order to bridge the gap. Iruka directed his sight to the paper he was holding, before glancing up at the kid, who was again pouting.

Not for the first time, the teacher considered an idea that had popped up in his mind nearly as soon as he had first seen Naruto. The kid and he were so alike that Iruka knew what the blond boy longed for. Iruka had longed for it in his youth all the same but no one had been able to be there for him. Not for the first time, Iruka asked himself if he could not become Naruto's mentor.

"Naruto ?"

"Yes sensei ?"

Iruka took a deep breath. There was a reason he had become a sensei after all. If it was not to pass on the Will of Fire and be there for the lone orphan, then what for? He had the opportunity to help someone, why not take it?

"I think… We could work around that."

The way Naruto's face brightened, all trace of sadness disappearing in an instant at the offer, evoked to Iruka how sunlight pierced through the lid of clouds after a depressing afternoon of heavy rain. It was for moments like this the man had become a teacher.

"For real sensei?" The kid's voice was shuddering from enthusiasm, all traces of envy and rancour gone from his tone.

"You'll need to work hard!" The teacher warned, doing is damned best to keep his seriousness.

That was the second reason hating the boy was impossible. His positive enthusiasm spread like wildfire. The blonde had demonstrated that several times ever since the first week in school.

"I'll work harder than hard if it means I'm no dobe anymore!"

Iruka steeled his eyes and his gaze bore into Naruto's. And he could see the kid had meant his last sentence. He had said it from to his very heart, with an unwavering will.

"Then I can offer you supplementary lessons. It is true that you did not benefit from… The same… Environment, as your comrades." The brown-haired teacher, explained, careful not to set off any kind of mine. "Therefore, I can make a direct request to Lord Hokage to give you those lessons. But that means staying at school later and working with me and I'll expect you to work diligently !"

In Naruto eyes, sparks of excitement were burning like stars and the boy could only nod and answer, obnoxiously loud as only he was capable of. "Yes sensei, I'll work extra ditilengly ! Whatever it means !"

Iruka felt a smile creep on his lips. The first lesson would definitely be vocabulary. And it could begin immediately. They had a little time before the blond child had to depart.

The next day, Iruka officially voiced his request to the Hokage, who clearly faked reading the paper before answering yes with a wink and a small smile. The old ninja was extremely confusing at time. Maybe that was the reason he was Hokage despite being past his prime.

Authorization in hand, the teacher lost no time and Naruto and he met each evening after class, every day of the week, for supplementary lessons. The two worked on everything the blond lacked: reading, writing, counting, and soon, the boy caught to his comrades in all three departments.

The lessons did not stop there, however. It soon became apparent that Naruto had trouble focusing for long, afflicted with a seemingly short attention span, which made him incapable to sit still and listen. Deciding he could not allow the kid to struggle alone, Iruka took the bull by its horn and looked for a solution.

First, he went out of his way to read the best books the library had on child psychology, which amounted to one hardcover tome and two scrolls. In other words, they had nothing. The same could be said about education methods. It was barren on both front but still gave some hints to Iruka who decided to invent.

Little by little, by trials and errors, racking his mind for the most imaginative way to ensure knowledge entered and stayed in the blond's brain, the teacher discovered and adapted several techniques to allow for his self imposed charge to learn in a way he could.

The first thing both Iruka and the child realized was that pure theory refused to enter and settle inside Naruto's brain. It was not a matter of attention span or focus, none of that but if the information was not linked to something practical to do, the blond simply did not remember it. Iruka had already seen that in some kids but never to that ridiculous extent.

Naruto needed to do something for the knowledge to soak in. Just listening to or reading about information was useless. The blond child simply needed to do something with his body to learn. Moving somehow was of the utmost importance for him to assimilate something. Then he could stay at it for hours. That was the reason Naruto was first of his class in taijutsu and hand seal formation.

Once Iruka understood that he came up with several methods for the boy. Geography had been easy. He simply challenged Naruto to paint a map of the five nations entirely by himself after looking at an original for a minute or so. After doing that for days, challenging himself to do it again and again while looking at the original for less and less time, Naruto simply imprinted the map in his brain. Iruka then replaced the map with one more precise and challenged the blond again, and so on. The kid developed a scary short term memory as a result. He was nowadays able to reproduce any drawing after looking at it for less than ten seconds, more often than not up to the smallest details.

History had been harder at first but Iruka took a map of the elemental nations, one Naruto knew by heart, drew a giant, modified shoji board on it, and played a game with the blond as he explained the sixty years or so since the foundation of the village of Konohagakure.

The basics of sealing came easily and the kid took an interest to it, practising some simple fuinjutsu on his own.

Mathematics proved to be quite the challenge on the other hand until Iruka found his best idea to date: the abacus. Naruto was now scarily fast in mental calculus. Scarily. Fast.

Iruka was quite proud of the young boy and he was not one to congratulate himself for lesser deeds but, after months of work, he thought he himself deserved a pat on the back for his efforts. Because by Kami, he had expended more energy in getting Naruto on the good tracks than he had ever in his, albeit relatively short, career as an active chunin. The kid was simply several handfuls to handle but one could not argue with the results.

"Say, sensei, why are they like this ?" Naruto asked during once such session.

The sorrow was pregnant in the voice of the young child, he who should have known only happiness. As his sensei did not answer, Naruto kept speaking, not noticing the dismay on Iruka's face.

"I don't know why, the other kids, they… They are bizarre with me."

The brown-haired teacher sighed. Heavily. It had taken longer than he thought it would but after six months, the presence of Naruto within the academy had been discovered. Before long, the parents of various children, all civilians, who had realized the blond kid was in the same class or the same school as their "adorable little sugar bun", had voiced their complaints, asking for the blond to be expelled from the academy. The board of directors constituted mainly of teachers, the headmaster, and the Hokage, with two civilians for show, had obviously refused but then the ignorant parents had asked their very children to be wary of Naruto, branding him a monster.

It was the new favourite monicker amongst the children. Monster. Kids were as cruel as their parents allowed it and the parents had decided to encourage pretty much everything.

But how could Iruka explain to an eight-year-old the hideous rumours he was the subject of?

"Don't think too much about it Naruto. You are friend with other kids right?" The teacher asked, rhetorically. The children of the various clans had received no particular incentive from their parents to leave the blond alone. Ninjas knew better than to give credence to baseless accusations. Many might even know the truth about the Catastrophe. Or at least enough of it.

Iruka knew that Naruto had befriended the Akimichi, Inuzuka and Nara heirs.

"You know Naruto, it may sound sad, but you can't and won't befriend everyone." The teacher took a profound inspiration and prayed some gods and ancestors for help. "With some people, you'll find common points, interests you share. With others, you'll be indifferent and sometimes, it will be the exact opposite."

Naruto sighed. Heavily.

"That's not just that sensei. They all tell me their parents say I'm some kind of…" The voice of the child wavered before breaking. The blonde took a sharp breath. "Monster." He achieved his sentence.

The boy soon felt a strong hand on his shoulder. Iruka squeezed lightly. The blonde glanced up at his sensei and saw the eyes of the man darting around before coming back to his own. His teacher let out another sigh.

"People can be mean, Naruto. Sometimes there is no clear or good reason. That's why you need to pay no heed to the other kids. Whatever they say, it's not true and most importantly, it's not your fault." The brown-haired man gave his pupil a tentative smile. "Take good care of the friends you make. Never abandon them and in return, this will shield you from what the other people throw at you."

When Naruto smiled brightly at him and nodded, Iruka could feel a knot loosen somewhere in his body. The teacher sighed internally, from content and relief this time, before returning the smile to his student.

"Let's continue ?"

"Hai sensei !"

"Three times four ?!" Iruka shouted abruptly.

"Twelve !" Naruto answered after a tenth of a second of hesitation, his right-hand twitching.

"Good! Nine times three ?!"

"Twenty-seven!"

The rapid-fire of questions and answered echoed in the evening of Konoha.

"Sooo… How much did you get ?" Naruto asked the dark-haired Uchiha with a grin splitting his face in two, horizontally. Around the two boys, the rest of the class was getting up, gathering their material and readying themselves to go back home. The last rays of a low winter sun illuminated the classroom with a purple light. Sasuke sighed wearily. Why wouldn't the blonde leave him alone?

"Nineteen." The raven-haired boy eventually answered, before gritting his teeth as the grin of his schoolmate grew larger than it should have been possible.

"You remember our bet, right? Sa-su-ke-kun…" Naruto drawled, his voice full of mockery.

The Uchiha mentally stopped himself before smashing the blond's face in his table. After a deep breath to regulate his temper, the war fan heir shot a deadly glare at his neighbour. "I don't believe you, show me your mark."

Somehow, the smile on Naruto's face grew larger again. A small part of Sasuke's mind that was not angry wondered how it was possible. With a quick jab, the Uchiha snatched the sheet of paper from the other kid's hands.

Twenty out of twenty. Best mark, better than his by one point.

Sasuke was beaten. For the third time in a row and by the one he kept calling dobe at the beginning of the year. Worse, he lost a bet.

"Sooo… Rendez-vous at your home for some shurikenjutsu training then you come with." Naruto stated, the elation apparent on his face.

Sasuke sighed. For a second he hoped for one of his annoying fangirls to start bickering with Naruto about something stupid before the raven-haired boy shuddered. No. He was not that desperate. He had no real reason to accept Naruto's offer, other than he had lost the bet and it was now a matter of honour. But still, it was bothersome, as it would no doubt slow his training. What would his father say? Why had he accepted the terms of the bet, to begin with? There had been nothing for him.

No, it was a lie. Naruto had offered him the right to call him dobe for the rest of the year, were he to win and that was too good to pass out. In exchange, the blond kid had asked for a bit of the raven-haired boy's personal time.

"You're going to have fun, Sasuke, trust me. And Iruka-sensei says it himself: no game and no fun make you a dull boy."

"Stop talking right now, please."

"Look, what about this; if your training doesn't get better after you come to play with us, you can bail! You try just for one full week !"

"That won't work and-"

"You have absolutely no idea if it will." Naruto interrupted, something close to annoyance seeping in his tone. "And you. Lost. The bet. So at least try."

"You better not make me lose my time dobe." Sasuke eventually said after the longest time.

"Hu-hu, that's off limit for you now. And you'll see, you'll thank me later, teme." Naruto said firmly, his smile back on his face and his inexhaustible cheer back in his voice.

Sasuke sighed. What was he going to call the annoying blond now? He gathered his belongings, thinking hard about the new problem.

"So Ni-chaku, my place, tomorrow at ten?"

Naruto scowled and growled like always when Sasuke would call him this. After a whole year, it was nowadays more out of habit than out of annoyance. Out of comradeship also. After all, "runner up" was a way nicer surname than "dead last". And it was true. Naruto was second only to Sasuke when all subjects were taken into account.

The supplementary lessons with Iruka sensei paid off rather spectacularly and the young Uchiha had to do his damned best not to be outpaced by the blond. It was a rather nice incentive for him to work, a perpetual challenge to stay on top. Not that the raven-haired boy would ever admit it to the blond. And the blond would never ever admit that having someone with whom to compete was nice.

The two had a rather weird relationship, both would tell that rather easily. A friendship that had begun with rivalry and was still laced with it.

It had not been easy for Naruto to close the distance with Sasuke, in more ways than one. The dark-haired boy was undoubtedly very intelligent, came from a respected house of famed ninjas with incredible power and was kind of aloof, refusing to spend time with other kids under the pretext of training. Compared to the trio of Nara, Akimichi and Inuzuka, who were not too interested in what was taught at school nor in the training their parents insisted on giving them and more into playing catch and dodgeball, Sasuke was seriousness incarnated. Given how the blond boy was himself prone to pranks and games, becoming friend with such a person had been anything but straightforward.

Yet Naruto refused to let any doubt impede him. He could see that the black-haired boy was just as aloof as he had been not too long ago before school had started. For different reasons, the blond was not sure he understood completely but in the end, aloofness was aloofness. It was no good, Naruto knew it full well. He knew just how the three goofs as friends were pleasant to have as friends.

The blond knew, however, that he could not get Sasuke to notice him the same way he had had Shikamaru, Kiba and Choji acknowledge him. Pranks would not work on the marmorean Uchiha.

It had been an excruciating race for Naruto, but the blond worked his ass off, taking off from the last place to second in a matter of six months. It was all thanks to Iruka sensei finding a way to catalyze his absurd amount of energy. It was then Naruto attracted the attention of the Uchiha boy. Naruto did not relent in his efforts, threatening Sasuke's position as the best student of the promotion. When the spars between the blond and the raven-haired boy started to end with the victory of the former, he had the complete focus of the Uchiha heir.

The nail in the coffin of the raven-haired boy had been a bet he lost to the Uzumaki. From then on, Naruto progressively dragged the young Uchiha out of his routine, after a careful and long-winded coaxing. The blond offered the dark-haired boy to train together in taijutsu and shurikenjutsu and enrolled him in the games and pranks him and the three others played and invented.

And Sasuke Uchiha, the ever lone, serious student had accepted after the humpiest time. Reluctantly at first.

Soon, however, the raven-haired boy slowly realized something he had not considered, as he had been fixated for so long on his personal training.

First, exercising with others was fun. Not only that but the boy had made more progress by sparing with the boys for a month than hitting a dummy for an entire year.

Second, as Naruto had no idea how to throw anything, Sasuke played teacher, as much as it bothered him at first. He realized that teaching Naruto made him take an external point of view on things, allowing him, in turn, to detect his own mistakes and correct them.

Third, the break imposed by the other children to disrupt the monotony of his free time was a welcomed thing he did not know he needed. Relaxing and simply playing without asking himself too much question allowed the dark-haired heir to progress by leaps and bound once he returned to his more personal exercises. He was not really comfortable with the pranks the other pulled but that was another thing.

All that was thanks to Naruto. The mysterious blond who was just as intelligent as him, only in a more "direct approach" kind of way, always keeping him on his toes. A total maverick, loud-mouthed, terrifyingly ingenious when it came to pranks, unpredictable when it came to sparing and, most bizarre, annoying yet compelling, doubtless. Unrelenting. When Naruto was set on something, he would try again and again and again, sometimes to the annoyance of many, until he got it.

The blond boy had bulldozed his way through the barriers Sasuke had erected around him, not taking his numerous "get lost" for an answer. Naruto had gotten the Uchiha out of his self imposed isolation, trained with him, played with him, helped him. He was grateful for that.

Not that Sasuke would admit that. Ever. It was something Naruto had yet to take down a notch: his pride.

"Pff, prick. Yeah, 'f course I'll be there. Better ready yourself or you'll lose."

"In your dream blondy."

"See ya tomorrow, prick."

"See ya, Ni-chaku…" Sasuke answered with a thin smile.

Yet something else Naruto had extracted out of him.

Iruka watched as his students vacated the school premise and could not keep a smile from settling on his face when he saw and heard his two best elements exchanging banter. Naruto was nothing short of a miracle to happen to the young Uchiha. To say the blond unknown had removed the stick stuck up the ass of the raven haired boy would be a euphemism. Because he had probably removed several sticks. Not that Iruka, respectable sensei as he was, would ever use such vulgar terms to describe the reality of a situation, no matter how fitting they were. With a smile, the teacher gathered his things. He wouldn't see Naruto this evening. He knew when the blond had something planned.

"So… What's our target?" Shikamaru whispered.

"The cat."

"The cat? What cat?"

"The cat. You know which one I'm talking about."

"Oh."

"Yup. And we're going to release it just where you can imagine."

"That's… A bit too much Naruto don't you think?" Chôji interjected, worry clear in his voice.

"Come on, it won't be the worst we have done."

"Maybe but not by far."

"Well, do you have another idea?"

"How about something where we don't get trashed if we get caught? It's troublesome"

"What's the fun in that?"

The two others sighed. Naruto smiled. It was time to begin "operation Tora". Or in other words: "let's capture Madame Shimiji's cat and release it in old Karu's chicken farm, and give some poor genin team a horrible, D-ranked mission". The blond smirked. His pranks involving Tora were usually the funniest. They were also easier to set up. At first, "requisitioning" Tora had been complicated, but once the kids had found the way to draw the animal to them, it was just a matter of dropping it on some unsuspecting civilian.

Often one who had been less than polite with Naruto. The cat, akin to some sort of mysterious natural disaster, would do the rest. And some poor genin team would be sent in all urgency after the devilish cat, to their dismay.

The only problem was that punishment would inevitably befall their little group. It was well known that they were the only one who would, or even could, set up something like this. And even without proof, when Tora "somehow" found himself where he shouldn't have, the fault would always fall on the children's shoulders.

But today, Naruto had devised the perfect plan. Sasuke had stayed in the Academy ground and with the help of Kiba, Akamaru, the Bunshin and Henge techniques, was acting as their perfect alibi.

"Go!"

AN: You read many (countless) fics where Kakashi and/or Jiraiya actually do their job. Here, it's Iruka. Do leave a review if you are so inclined. Thanks for reading.