The nauseating stench of blood and guts filled the office even before their eyes were able to register the image before them. Silver hair was barely visible under the rich red that covered it. Blood was splattered all over the body and the face was no exception. Flecks of blood were splattered across the face but it only added to the haunting beauty of the owner's mismatched eyes.
The figure rose from where it had been kneeling in the middle of the office, rising to their full height and easily towering over many of the others present. Despite taking long strides towards the desk, there was no sound produced from the movement. Not the rustle of the clothes nor the sound of footsteps. Only the breathing of the bystanders and the occasional soft drip drop of blood falling from the blood-soaked hair onto the wooden floor below were heard.
A single scroll, held in a blood-caked hand, was offered to the Hokage. Wordlessly the Sandaime accepted it, ignoring the red handprint on the scroll before setting it aside.
"Report." A single command was issued. Usually, the imposing figure would have started to give a brief yet concise report but today there was a hesitation. A pair of black and red eyes flittered over to the sole Academy teacher, and the only chunin, standing in the office before looking back towards their superior. The wordless question was answered with a dismissive wave of the leader's hand.
"Informant had already defected and the meeting was compromised. The village meeting was an ambush. All inhabitants were eliminated according to protocol." The cold, detached voice was like knives against the skin of those hearing. The newly-promoted jounins and the teacher that was amongst those present were horrified at the information that they were hearing. Whilst many of them had carried out high-level missions before, they had never had to experience such a mission like the one that they were currently listening to. The army killer was motioned to expand on the details, especially the casualties, much to all the others dismay.
The statistics rolled out of his mouth without pause. "Fifty-three mercenaries, ten B-rank missing-nin, and twenty non-combative civilians. Non-combatants consisted of twelve elderly and eight children." With each number and the accompanying description mentioned, the paler the two became. At the end of it, a retching sound could be heard from the corner of the room where the scarred Academy teacher had promptly thrown up.
While she had yet to throw up, the female genjutsu specialist had gone a deathly pale. Beside her a green clade taijutsu specialist had gone still, his hands were balled up so tightly that they had turned white. The younger Sarutobi in the office had no outward response other than the subtle clenching of his jaw. While they were not on par with the Sharingan user in terms of experience, they were still older and more experienced in high ranked missions as compared to the kunoichi and the sensei.
By now the blood had stopped dripping from the Nakamagoroshi's hair. The once rich red liquid had faded into a reddish-brown shade, as the blood had dried up and was now clinging to the man all over.
Old eyes took In the scene before him, his mind working to make a decision that he should have already made many years ago but did not verbalize it at that time. "You are to become the jounin sensei of this year's Team Seven which is comprised of Haruno, Uchiha, and Uzumaki." All except for the one he was addressing stiffened, unable to believe what they had just heard. He could already hear the protests coming from those gathered before him, the loudest coming from the Academy Instructor. However the solider on the receiving end of said order did not say anything. In-fact, there was no visible change in his body language.
A single coal-black eye and a spinning Sharingan bore down on him, the owner silent. The silence continued before a single, "Understood." was said in a clear, soft voice, followed by a shallow yet respectful bow. The Sandaime accepted the answer wordlessly and was about to move onto other matters, reaching over to another stack of paperwork, before a loud "Wait!" made him halt in his actions.
The silence that followed that one word was deafening.
Hiruzen, who had one hand reached out towards the paperwork, slowly looked up towards the source of the outburst.
The group of jounin and academy teachers who had grouped at the back parted like water without a sound, as they too were in disbelief, to reveal a sole academy teacher standing there with a determined face. But while his face was showing determination and bravery, fear was evident in his wide eyes.
"Hokage-sama, with all due respect, I do not believe that such a shinobi is fit for the…delicate role of a sensei." The Academy teacher's opinion was met with silence and the weight of everyone's stare. To some, the objection put forward was understandable. For a team of fresh-faced genin who have never stepped a foot outside of the village to be assigned to perhaps one of the most reputable shinobi in the village was rarely heard of. The last time a similar event that had happened was when the Legendary Sanin took on their genin teams. There were reasons why such teams were rare.
For those who have yet to experience and understand the life of a shinobi more often than not have misconceptions of what is expected of them.
To the foolish, missions are all about famous guests, flashy jutsus, and glorious moments.
To the lesser, missions are a way to earn money, reputation and rank.
To the elite, missions are a way to escape, live and die.
For a naïve team that consists of a mentally unstable emo, a pathetic fangirl and a weak attention-seeking jinchuriki, putting them under the command of Sharingan no Kakashi is just begging to destroy their current mindset and worldview. That is assuming that the genin do not resign from the force first, something that two out of the three genin do not have the opportunity to do. The Sharingan is a highly valuable asset to the village and the Jinchuriki containing perhaps the strongest being in existence. The village can do without a girl playing ninja and wasting valuable resources.
"And perhaps," the Nakamagoroshi angled his head to give the chunin a side glance, "if you taught them better, these genin would be prepared to be under my command. You should have taught them how to kill and survive instead of playing around. You indulge far too much in their antics during your lessons," the word was spat out, showing just what the shinobi thought of his classes, "allowing them to have delusions about the life that they have chosen." With each word spoken, the teacher's fist clenched tighter. By the end of it, his nails had dug deep enough into the flesh of his palm causing blood to slowly seep out. Deep down Iruka knew that the other shinobi was right, the small voice deep inside his head taking this chance to rear its' ugly head and mocking voice. "My actions are just going to result in them being underprepared for the world." A total of five seconds was paid attention to that thought before the chunin shoved it back into the depths of his mind and locking it up. Steeling himself, he tilted up his chin and glared into the pair of mismatched eyes, ready to defend his actions.
"What I teach, Hatake-san, and how I teach is my decision. I teach the way I teach to ensure that these children still get to experience a proper childhood. I believe that a child's childhood should not just be filled with training and learning how to kill." From the corner of his eye, Iruka could see some of the other gathered shinobi nodding their heads in agreement. But despite the obvious agreement from some of the shinobi, what Iruka failed to notice was that those that had agreed with him were all chunin. Not a single jounin was in agreement with him. Yes, some of the jounin had contemplative looks on their face but yet they knew that a solid foundation was needed to survive.
Many of the present jounin in the room had something in common. Most of them were all active forces during the Third Shinobi War. While not all of them were chunin or jounin during the war, like how Kakashi was, they had all experienced the sense of danger that the war brought every day. Many had seen how many lives were claimed by the war just because they were not trained enough thus resulting in a limited skill set and overall general inadequacy. Team Minato had two-thirds of their team wiped out. Lady Tsunade's brother was sent out the moment he had graduated from the academy and died from an explosion. So many lives that should not have been wasted.
Obviously, the Copy Ninja had not been impressed by Iruka's speech. If anything, the distaste had only become more prominent in the pair of red-black eyes. "All you teach is the basic three jutsus. Tree walking is not even taught to the students. Even the traps that they construct can be dismantled by a civilian." At this point, the jounin's sneer was obvious despite having half of his face covered. "Perhaps I should force you onto an ANBU mission. Then maybe you would see the difference between those who have been trained to survive and those that have not."
Before another retort could be uttered by Iruka the Sandaime interrupted the ever-growing shit-show between one of his elites and one of the Academy teachers. "As much as I would love to let this play out, I have other things to attend to. And Kakashi, while it was not my decision to lower the Academy curriculum to such dismal standards," a visible flinch was seen from Iruka at this comment, "it was deemed as necessary to increase our forces after the Kyuubi attack." There was a tense silence as the Sandaime pinned the jounin down with a firm stare until an almost unnoticeable nod was given in reply to the stare.
The rest of the meeting went on smoothly, ignoring the underlying tension left in the air, for another hour or so. When it finally ended and the shinobi in the room were dismissed, it was perhaps the fastest the Hokage had seen his forces move, leaving the lone ANBU captain and Academy teacher behind. Raising an eyebrow at the sight, the Sandaime gestured his hand for them to speak out. Surprisingly it was the Copy Ninja that spoke first.
"Should I make the team ready for the upcoming exams?"
There was no question about the team passing. The Council will not let their precious Uchiha fail a genin exam. It would also be an embarrassment for the resident Jinchuriki to fail. The last one on the team was debatable.
"Yes." Was an answer and a command at the same time. 'Yes' to make them ready for the exam and at the same time, 'yes' to make sure they will not be a national disgrace for Konoha.
Iruka, on the other hand, was lost. He did not understand the conversation that had taken place and it unnerved him. It was not surprising that he did not understand what was going on though. Everyday he is surrounded by children. Children had no filter, children who do not understand the intricacy of subtle language and double meanings, children whose main worry is if their parents had prepared their favorite food for them when they go home.
"I apologize for interrupting, but what exams are you talking about?" The teacher regretted asking the question even as he spoke it. By opening his mouth, all he had gained was the blank stare of the two other people in the room. Not that he knew about the entire ANBU team positioned around the room out of sight.
"Iruka," The teacher unconsciously straightened his back after being addressed by his military leader, "while you are an Academy teacher who is good with children, you are not irreplaceable." Iruka wondered if he looked as pale as he felt at that moment. "You are responsible of teaching the students at the Academy and nothing further. If you want to have a say in the team allocations then take the jounin exam to go up the ranks." A moment of silence, only the soft scratching of pen on paper could be heard.
Head bowed down and fists clenched at his side, an "I…I understand Hokage-sama." was finally chocked out. Realizing that the last statement was a dismissal, Iruka bowed and left. Once outside however he could no longer hold it in and slammed his fist against the wall, shocking a passing chunin. Absentmindedly muttering an apology, Iruka thought about what the Hokage said.
"He is right, I am replaceable. I do not have a special skill set nor do I have a long service record. I am just…an ordinary Academy teacher." There were no sobs and no anger with this realization, just tired acceptance. He thought of the bright smiles of his student, especially a unique whiskered one. A bitter smile appeared as he slumped against the wall. "Am I really protecting them? Or am I just causing their deaths?"
Occupied with his thoughts, he failed to notice that someone had been standing before them for the last minute.
"If you want to do something different, tell your students what they are signing up for. Don't sugarcoat it." Iruka's head snapped up so fast that he had accidentally bashed the back of his own head against the wall. He could only stare at the silver-haired shinobi before him with his mouth agape, his mind still trying to clear the murky haze from his inner conflict away.
Iruka tried to say something, anything, but his own body had frozen up at that moment as a single visible eye stared down at him.
A second passed, and another passed. The silence continued, and so did the staring. Finally, Iruka managed to snap out of the haze. Just as he was about to say something back, the jounin leaned down, causing Iruka to stiffen up and press himself against the wall as much as he could without being obvious. "While you are expandable, there are some in your class that are not. So do your job, and get rid of their weak mindset before it gets them killed." It wasn't so much of a comment as it was a demand.
Straightening up, the ANBU captain held his gaze for another moment before turning away. After a few steps, he halted and looked back at the still dazed Iruka. "In the world that we live in, strength is everything. You're either weak or strong." He looked away and continued walking, his last sentence ringing in Iruka's head.
"The weak cannot decide anything in life, not even how they will die."