Chapter 25 Drag

Iruka lifted the second cup of coffee to his lips and took a long sip.

He sat at the kitchen table, flipping through mission reports and wondering if he should have another drink.

He thought that another cup of coffee might help him perk up and prevent him from accidentally falling asleep while assigning tasks, but at the same time it might also make him overly enthusiastic when facing Taro Hoshigaki, thus attracting the other party's overt hints and flirting throughout the day.

Just when he decided to give up the idea, thinking that consuming too much caffeine would not be good for his physical and mental health, there was a soft and hesitant knock on the door.

Iruka froze for a moment, the cup in his hand stopping in mid-air.

He didn't know anyone who would knock on a door like that.

He only knew two people who would knock on his door, one was Hayate, who was always polite, and the other was Might Guy - his knocks usually made the neighbors break into cold sweats, and occasionally even cracked the door panels.

Others either broke in directly, or those suspicious jonin preferred to climb in through the window in the middle of the night.

Iruka pushed his chair back and stood up.

He hadn't had time to change his clothes - he wasn't planning on going early today, so he was still wearing his usual casual clothes - a pair of grey sweatpants and a dark blue long-sleeved T-shirt, his hair casually draped over his shoulders.

He fished a shuriken from under the table and tucked it into the waistband of his pants, then pulled his T-shirt over the exposed hilt.

He was mentally prepared for any unexpected situation, but he never expected that after opening the door, he would see the familiar golden hair of his favorite student.

And his students were struggling to support an unconscious man - Xuanjian.

Those blue eyes blinked at him, a little bloodshot from exhaustion, but that bright smile was as genuine as ever, albeit slightly tired.

"Good morning, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka opened the door immediately.

"Naruto?" he asked, bending down to help lift the unconscious Genma off his shoulders, "What happened? What happened?"

As soon as Naruto was freed from Genma's pressure, he bent down and bowed, his movements were too graceful to be a child who was almost ten years old.

"Well, I think he's fine, but he fainted in the hallway outside of Jiraiya-sama's office."

Outside the Hokage's office? What was Genma doing there? Unless...

"You idiot, Xuanjian..." He growled in a low voice, put Xuanjian's weak arm on his shoulders, hugged his waist, and helped him up.

Naruto paced back and forth nervously, not sure what to do. Iruka couldn't help but smile.

"Can you help me hold this idiot up, Naruto? He might need stitches, do you remember where I put the medical kit?"

Naruto nodded quickly and ran past Iruka into the room, disappearing through the bathroom door.

Iruka dragged Genma to the couch and began to unbutton his jonin vest, his eyes carefully searching for the blood that was sure to be under the heavy body armor.

He found a large bloodstain on the hem of his body armor, which, like red paint, had seeped through the lining of the jacket, forming a long trail.

The standard ninja uniform concealed the clothes underneath, so Iruka had to help him take off his shirt before he could check the injury.

The shirt itself was clean and undamaged, which made Iruka's blood pressure spike, because it meant that the idiot actually went home and changed his clothes before passing out.

He really wanted to teach this stubborn guy a lesson for collapsing in front of a child, but this matter would have to wait until Xuanjian woke up.

He placed two fingers on Xuanjian's neck and checked his pulse.

Just then, Naruto came back with a medical kit, worry written all over his young face.

"Is he okay?"

"He's fine," Iruka replied, relief evident in his tone.

Xuanjian's pulse was beating steadily under his fingertips. Although it was not as strong as he expected, it was not weak either.

He raised his head and looked at his student, sizing him up carefully.

The dark circles under Naruto's eyes were as dark as Ibiki's, forming two crescent-shaped shadows under his bright blue eyes.

However, he seemed much more energetic than yesterday, and an inexplicable stubbornness and motivation had taken root in him since Iruka last saw him.

"What are you doing at school so early in the morning? Are you here to see the Hokage?"

Naruto nodded hesitantly, avoiding Iruka's gaze.

"I...ah...can't sleep." He whispered, "I had a nightmare."

Iruka did not ask further questions. He could fully imagine what kind of terrible nightmare was lurking in the mind of this poor child.

"Why don't you take him to the hospital?" he asked, trying not to touch on the other person's sad memories. "Wouldn't it be more convenient that way? Did he tell you anything?"

Naruto nodded.

"He said he didn't want to go to the hospital, and asked me where you were, so I thought, since he was looking for you, it shouldn't be a big problem." The blond boy paused, "I think he didn't want others to know that he was injured."

Iruka understood, as he knew Genma always liked to cover things up and avoid explaining things to others, but it was really... surprising how quickly Naruto could see into the thoughts of someone he barely knew.

Iruka smiled widely and ruffled his blond hair, trying to give him some comfort.

"Thank you for your hard work. You must be terrified."

Naruto shook his head, but his eyes lit up.

"I think it might be that I scared him, not him scaring me," he said embarrassedly.

Iruka was amused by him, he could imagine Genma's reaction when he knew the truth, he found it funny to think that the person he tried so hard to avoid was the only one in the village who knew that he was injured.

However, Xuanjian's ability to deal with naughty children has never been very good, which can be seen from his usual reaction to Naruto.

"Can you help me get the needle and thread?" he said as he cut open Xuanjian's shirt with the chakra scalpel.

Naruto did as he was told, speaking with far more enthusiasm than Iruka had expected.

"Okay, no problem." Considering that he should be very tired, Iruka was a little surprised because he had the impression that Naruto was not a person who liked to wake up early.

Iruka peeled off the blood-soaked clothes layer by layer, revealing three parallel scratches on Genma's ribs.

The wound was long, running along the upper edge of the trapezius muscle before curving inwards and ending near the navel, the length from Iruka's wrist to his fingertips.

The cut was clean and sharp, undoubtedly from a sharp weapon; too thin to be a shuriken, too deep to be a kunai, too neat to be wire.

There was even a faint red mark running parallel to the scratches, and a fourth scar grazed just below Xuanjian's ribs.

It's four fingers.

To Iruka's surprise, Naruto insisted on staying with him and watching.

As Iruka began tending to the wound, he didn't seem to be afraid of all that blood and muscle tissue.

When Iruka was done, he formed a series of hand seals - ones that were uncomfortably familiar to Iruka - before crossing his hands over Genma's wound.

"Medical Ninjutsu: Cell Activation Jutsu."