Chapter 51 - A Misconception meets a Dangerous Alliance

Tok. Tok. Tok Tok. Tok. Tok Tok Tok Tok. (Footsteps down a hallway)


Sakura was instructing the class, but they weren’t in any mood to learn. And, to be fair, Sakura didn’t feel much like teaching at the moment. What had happened yesterday was fresh in her mind. Though the other medic-nin had cleaned up most of the blood, there was still the dent in the wall from Ekyt’s fight with Itachi, if the slaughter could be called a fight. And some traces of blood were still left on the stairs. The students were understandably shaken up. And Sakura was, too. She had seen her friend clinically dead for over a minute, before some weird circumstance saved his life. Accidentally, Sakura gripped the chalk too hard, and a white cloud exploded on her red vest. Stifling a curse, Sakura looked up at the class. They know Ekyt did something special…they just don’t know what…

“Sakura-sensei, please, tell us about Ekyt-sempai!” shouted one student in the back. He was backed up by several others. They had taken to their teacher, despite always seeing him on the losing end of fights. It was the students that had seen him after class that had known just how he was. When Junimaru’s parents were divorcing, Ekyt had helped him through the hard time. When Tsute was in danger of failing, Ekyt had stayed with her after school and taught her one-on-one.

Sakura wasn’t sure if she could tell them. She was close to tears herself, knowing she was alive only because Ekyt had almost died.
“Well, you all saw his fight with Lee. And Lee’s girlfriend getting involved, causing him to lose the fight. That dog…(Sweatdrops as she realizes she said that out loud)Anyway, well, the truth is that Ekyt is why I’m alive. Do you all remember Itachi Uchiha from your history class? (Class nods) Well, he was here, and he had me hostage. Ekyt had sealed his Sharingan (Class gasps), and Itachi forced him to unseal it, or Itachi would kill me. After he unsealed Itachi’s Sharingan…well, I’m not sure what happened….I just know that he was clinically dead, and that, somehow, a strange clone of himself brought him back to life…it’s all very strange, and no one really knows what happened…”




Tok. Tok. Tok. Tok Tok. Tok. Tok Tok. Tok.
“Hey, you can’t be here!” a voice shouted at the person walking. They stopped when the person turned to look at them. “I’m sorry, my apologies, go right ahead. Didn’t recognize you…”

“It happens,” the person said over his shoulder. Classroom 104 was right ahead. The person reached out a hand to open the door.




The door slid open slowly. Everyone in class looked to Sakura, who stepped away from the chalkboard, five kunai between her fingers. Those five kunai clattered to the floor as she saw who walked in.

“E-Ekyt?!” she stammered. The class all looked over as one. Their teacher was here?!

To say Ekyt was in rough shape would have been an understatement. One eye was blackened, and there were still traces of blood on his mask, but he was walking, assisted by a crutch. The biggest change was a good one: The chunin vest that had replaced Ekyt’s black combat vest. Of course, Ekyt had special-ordered a black chunin vest.

“Afraid so. I snuck out of my hospital room. I’m still your teacher, I have to make sure you’re all okay, don’t I?”

The class cheered. “Tell us what happened!” they demanded. Ekyt looked over to Sakura. She smiled back, head cocked to one side.

“I’d like to know myself. They know the before Itachi and after Itachi, but not the rest. Go for it, you’re not interrupting. The kids have been worried…me, too, for that matter,” Sakura said with a smile. Ekyt nodded.

“Well, first of all, you should all know that, while I still answer to Ekyt, that’s really more of a nickname. ‘Ryouko’ is my real name. But, more importantly…I unsealed Itachi’s Sharingan. Then, right about here (Ekyt pointed to a spot on his right side), I was stabbed with a kunai. All of you know genjutsu is my speciality. Itachi Uchiha is, undoubtedly, the most skilled with genjutsu. He used a jutsu on me called Tsukuyomi (Moonreader). It’s a nightmare realm, where Itachi controls space and time. For three days in this world, I was tied to a giant “x”, and stabbed, beaten, and hit with shuriken. In OUR world, only ten seconds had passed. In THAT world, 72 hours had passed.”

“Wait wait wait, this happened while he was holding you against the wall?!” Naoto called out. “How could three days go that quickly?! And why didn’t you just use the “release” technique?”

“Good question. I couldn’t. And…well, I was buying time. If he was tied up with me, that meant all of you would escape. And you saw my fight…pulling bones out of yourself is tiring, and that kunai stab from behind didn’t help. Mostly, it was because of this.” Ekyt indicated his headband. “I made a blood oath to protect all of you while you escaped to Naruto Uzumaki. Part of being a Shinobi is doing what’s right for everyone else before yourself. But, you see, if I HADN’T let myself get captured like that, a lot of people would be dead. Even if I had died while captured, I would have died with a clear conscience, knowing I did all I could to preserve the lives of others. It’s a hard thing to understand. I’ve always said that I’d never kill…but I’ve changed that. I’d kill someone evil if it meant saving the life of someone good. But I would only kill in defense…”




Sakura shook her head, knowing that Tsunade hadn’t authorized Ekyt’s visit. Look at him…he really does care, doesn’t he? He won’t tell anyone that he’s in pain. And he’s so good with those kids. Even though he lost two fights in front of them, they respect him. And…that chunin vest REALLY gives makes him look…different. Not more mature, but somehow more attractive. I wonder why he told Naruto that he had a girlfriend to protect…Maybe someone got the wrong idea. Naruto and I HAVE been spending a lot of time together, but we’re not ‘together’, like that. He’s too career-driven. That, and poor Hinata would pine if he was with someone besides her. (giggle) Oh well, I’ll have to make sure to clear up the misconception. Naruto’s grown, but him and I? I’d have to think about that first. There are other boys, too. I’ll always be on Naruto’s team, but that close?

The class shuffled out of the room, talking excitedly about what happened. Sakura grabbed Ekyt’s arm.

“Now that class is over, I’m a medic again, and I say it’s time for you to go back to the hospital before you ruin your stitches. Come one, now.” Sakura gently forced Ekyt to walk back to the hospital. On the way, she asked:
“By the way, where did you hear that Naruto and I were boyfriend/girlfriend?”

“From Lady Tsunade,” Ekyt replied.

“You should know, he and I aren’t together like that. We’ve both been studying, so we decided we’d help each other, so we can both be jonin. We weren’t dating or anything.”

Ekyt, stoic as always, had to try REALLY hard not to ruin that stoicism. She’s NOT dating him? Then- what? Wait…she might just be trying to save my feelings. She’s got to have it figured out.

“My mistake,” Ekyt said evasively.

“By the way…” Sakura started, blushing.
Ekyt froze. Huh? Is she…No, she’s not going to say…maybe…oh, man!

“…Thanks for saving me.” Sakura kissed Ekyt on the cheek, just above his mask, causing him to blush, too.

“It was no problem.” Ekyt tried to answer crisply, but he faltered halfway through. That earned him a curious look from Sakura, so Ekyt covered with “Sorry, my throat is a little sore from the coughing.” That seemed to satisfy Sakura, so she continued to walk him to his room.




A week later, after visits from Temari, Tenten, and a few others, Ekyt was on his feet. He was taking a walk around the village with Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura before he had to meet his squad.

“Hey, loser…you fought my brother…how are you alive?” Sasuke wondered, shooting a glance at Ekyt.

“I’m not sure. But I am, that’s what matters. His fighting pattern is still the same.” Ekyt was still a little ticked with Sasuke, so he kept his answers short and clipped.

“Hey, pervy samurai, it’s awesome you’re a chunin now! It’s about damn time, believe it!”

“Yeah, I-”

“Ekyt, come here!”

Ekyt looked over to see who barked the order. Ibikki Morino and Anko Mitarashi. It had been Ibikki who was doing the talking. Hayate Gekko was also with them. He was in a tree, keeping watch for spies.

“Listen, kid. Take the armor (ANBU armor), and put it on underneath that vest. You’ve got a B-ranked mission, and you’re leading it, with your squad. You’ll be accompanied by Sai. Team Kakashi will be accompanied by Yamato.” Ibikki spoke low and fast, while Ekyt put the armor on.

“What’s happened?” Ekyt questioned, looking from one jonin to the other.

“Welcome back to ANBU, for starters. Secondly, there’s been a series of kidnappings. All done by the Akatsuki. Your sensei, Iruka, is one missing. There are others missing, too. Kankuro from the Sand Village, Genma Shuranai, and Ayame, Teuchi’s daughter. Your squad is going to burst ahead and face the Akatsuki. Team Kakashi is going to be stacked with two jonin, and an Akatsuki target. Your job is to survive until they arrive, then bring the captives back here safely. Once you’ve done that, the other ANBU agents will mobilize.”

“Ibbiki-sensei, Yuuka and Okkuu aren’t ready for a mission like this, against the Akatsuki. Even with Sai and myself, they’re still fresh genin.” Ekyt had become protective of Okkuu and Yuuka in their short time together. He cared enough to stand up to Ibikki Morino.

“You’ve got guts, kid, talking to Ibikki like that. But your kids WANT to go. It’s their sensei too, you know. You couldn’t stop ‘em if you tried. Now, get going, and hurry it up!” Anko barked.

“Alright. I’ll get my team together, and we’ll go.” Ekyt put his index and middle fingers together under his right eye and disappeared in a flurry of leaves and smoke.

“Think he was right about the genin?” Anko asked, taking a swig of red miso soup.

“Of course he was right. But it’s time they learned that the life of a Shinobi isn’t all D-ranks. And Ekyt…it’s time he learned what it means to be a leader. He’s got all the making of a top jonin. He just needs experience. And damned if that council is going to stop him now. Kakashi and I let them know how he felt about their decision, in our own subtle ways,” Ibikki said with a grin that would frighten the dead.

“Oh? How subtle were you?” Anko shot back.

“Well, the genjutsu we used SHOULD be wearing off soon…” Ibikki looked up at the sky, telling the time from the sun. “Time for us to go, too. I’ve got new intelligence reports. It’s not good news.”




Iruka woke up, feeling dazed. He knew WHERE he was, and WHY he was here. But he wasn’t sure HOW he had gotten here.
There was a lot of them…the cloaks, and those eyes…no doubt about it, Sharingan. But why me? Did they take anyone else?
Iruka looked to his right. Kankuro was just beginning to stir, and he was trying to shake the cobwebs out of his head. To his left, Iruka heard a soft, female voice groan. Lastly, across from him, he saw Genma, just barely awake.
Not good…not one of us is a medic-nin. Genma’s senbon would have come in handy, but that’s long gone. I can’t reach my exploding tags. I guess we’ve got to play along until we’re rescued, or the Akatsuki give us an opening. How many of them came? Iruka counted them, having seen the BINGO book with their pictures in it. Deidara, Sasori, Itachi, Kisame.

The Leaf Village would send a rescue squad, that was certain. But it wasn’t likely that they could compare to these four. Trying to force doubt out of his mind, Iruka let himself rest, and he got as comfortable as you could with your legs shackled and your arms tied behind your back. He didn’t know how long the wait was, but he needed to conserve his energy- for now.




“Okkuu, Yuuka, I’m not going to lie- this mission is the toughest that I’ve ever faced. We have hostages to worry about, and the enemy is strong. VERY strong. We have an ANBU member with us. This is Sai. Sai, this is Okkuu Kazuki and Yuuka Momoka.”

Sai tried a genuine smile, but only succeeded in scaring the two genin. At least he hadn’t joked about a certain part of the male anatomy.

“So, be on your guards, and worry about yourselves first. Just remember the first thing I said when we became teammates: I won’t let you die. Alright? Time to go.”


Sakura: WHAT? Iruka-sensei has been kidnapped? Oh, this isn’t good! We’ve GOT to rescue him! And now that everyone understands Naruto and I aren’t together, what am I going to do? It makes me that much more lonely!

Naruto: Me and Sakura? A couple years ago, sure. She’s gotten more beautiful, yeah, but we’re different people. Guess this means that the Pervy Samurai still has a chance. Ah, what am I saying? Iruka-sensei is in trouble! If they hurt him- I’ll kill them!

Sai: Ekyt-kun is enjoying this, in a way. Being a chunin means a lot to him, and he enjoys the leadership. If we hurry, we can rescue Iruka. It would be a shame to lose him. He reminds me of my brother. They were both talented, but also very kind.

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