Naruto : Venom

"I have a couple of dreams for the future, but I'm only going to share one. Really it's more of a goal than a dream, I want to become a S-rank shinobi. And... that's all. There's some basic information about me." I turn to Iruka. "Anything else I should cover? Pretty sure I got most of it."

He turns to the class. "Any questions for Alvarcus?"

...

Immediately the class bursts into chatter, they're shouting questions at me all at the same time.

"OI!" Iruka shouts and all of the kids instantly fall silent.

"You still got it!" I cheekily chime in. "I remember when I was on the other side of that!"

"Alright kids, raise your hands and he'll call on you." Iruka has a fond look on his face, no doubt he's remembering my class and all the times he's had to quiet us down. It was a lot.

Almost all of the kids hands shoot up into the air.

"At least there's interest." I mutter to myself. "Uh... You in the back with the funky green hair."

"Hi!" He cheerfully says. "So is it true? Are you really Alvarcus?"

"Yep! That's me!" I give a little wave. "Next question?" The student I chose sits down in a huff. He wanted to know if I'm that Alvarcus, he should have been more specific. "The smart looking one with the glasses."

"Are all of the stories about you true?" She asks in a very serious tone as she delicately pushes her glasses up with a finger.

"Well... there's some truth to them. Most of them at least." I sheepishly scratch the back of my head. "I don't really hear the stories about me since everyone assumes I know what they're talking about. After all, I was there. How could I not know?"

"How about the one about the Suna nin?" Miss glasses asks.

"Sorry, we'll have to come back to you. One question per call for now, we want to make sure everyone who wants to gets a turn." I don't want to talk about that. "Let's see... the Inuzuka in the front."

"Did you really beat cousin Kiba in a fight?" He eagerly asks. "I bet you didn't! Kiba's so cool and strong and there's no way he could be beat!"

"Good times." I force a fond smile on my face. That was not a good time at all. "Yeah, I beat him. He really made me work for it though."

"Wow, you must be crazy strong then!" The Inuzuka has stars in his eyes.

"Not really. There's people out there who are loads stronger than me." For now, I'm working on making that list smaller. "Next! You with the blue scarf."

This child is different from the rest, he's not as happy and carefree. Also there's something that sets him apart from the rest of his classmates, there's a fresh scar in running down the left side of his face. It's still an angry red, he must have gotten it in the chaos of the invasion.

"How'd you get that scar?" He asks. "Doesn't it bother you?" His tone is bitter, I bet he's been teased a lot about his new scar.

Iruka tenses. He's ready for something to go wrong. "Alvarcus we haven't covered scars yet. He didn't know better."

"Pfft, kid you'll have to be way more specific." My nonchalant tone causes Iruka to relax. I'm not going to let kids get to me. "Which scar are you talking about? I've got too many to count."

"Really?" He asks in curiosity instead of bitterness. "You have more than one?"

All of the kids are attentively listening now. It isn't just him who I have curious, hell it isn't just the students either. Iruka looks very intrigued too.

"Oh yeah. Loads." I confidently reply. This question is about more than just how I got my scar, it's about how I live with them. That's what he really wants to know. "I wear them as a badge of honor. Each one is a symbol of something I've lived through. They're a testament to my strength. Besides, all of the really good shinobi have their own scars. Between Iruka and I you have some strong shinobi before you!"

Surprise crosses his face. "Oh." He sits down with a very cute thinking face. I hope I could make a difference for him.

"You never answered his question." Miss glasses says in annoyance.

"My, aren't you the observant one." I sass back to her. "A sword. That's how I got it." That's the understatement of the century. "Next question! Hmm... You! The stoic Hyuuga." I swear that clan needs to lighten up, they're all business all the time. Even their kids are!

"My tou-san says that the life of a shinobi is a difficult path." I nod my head at the Hyuuga's words. His tou-san is definitely right. "He says that there are many hardships and losses. But what he stressed to me the most was that shinobi are expected to kill. My question is this, how many people have you killed?"

"Only those that I've had to." That's a lie. I know it is, I could have spared many of the people I've killed by simply knocking them out or removing them from the fight somehow. Yet I didn't, not because I couldn't but simply because it was easier at the time.

I'm not the only one who knows it's a lie, Iruka is looking at me with a mask of indifference but beneath that is a great deal of pity.

The mood turned sour with the last question. I'll have to fix that with the next one. "So! Who want to go next?"

"Iruka-kun!" I faintly hear someone shouting from a good distance away from the Academy.

"Ignore that." Iruka has a mad blush on his face. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"Well that's not weird at all." I mutter. "Anyways, how about you with the black shirt?"

"Iruka-kun!" The person shouting is much louder this time.

I turn to Iruka and give him a stink eye.

"Just keep going. She'll go away." He doesn't sound confident at all.

"She?" I grin. "Iruka is this who I think it is?"

"No!" Red tinges his cheeks. "Go back to the questions! Daiko I believe he called on you next? What's your question?"

Daiko, the one in the black shirt, clears her throat. "You're on a team with Sasuke Uchiha? Is he... is he dating anyone?" Oh hell no! He's got fangirls in the Academy? What is the world coming to?

"Iruka-kun!" The voice is very close now, I'd wager she's just turning down the hallway. Hold on a moment, I know that voice.

I turn to my old teacher. "Iruka-sensei is that-"

BAM

The door to the classroom slams open. "Iruka-kun!"

"Anko-chan what are you doing here! I'm working!" Iruka rushes to her before she can enter the classroom fully.

"Holy crap you're dating Anko?" I couldn't help but saying. "Dude, good for you!"

Iruka ignores me. "Anko-chan you can't be here!"

"You said we'd have lunch together, and I want lunch now." She huffs. "Who was that anyways? Sounds familiar."

"It's no one." Iruka dismisses quickly. "My lunch break isn't for another hour, come back then. OI! Get back here!"

She slithered her way around him to get completely into the classroom. "Nah, I'm hungry now so we'll eat now. Hey kiddos, I'm going to borrow your sensei. That cool? Thanks."

"Oh man Tsunade thank you so much for giving me this mission. This turned out way better than I expected!" I say more to myself than anyone else.

My voice startles Anko and she stares at me. "Sorry, do I know you?"

"No! No you don't just leave and I'll tell you about him later!" Iruka lightly grabs her by the wrist and halfheartedly tugs her towards the door. She doesn't move from her spot, actually she does the opposite. She drags Iruka behind her to closes the distance between us.

"I swear I know you. I just can't figure out how." She's staring me right in the eyes. Or in this case the sunglasses.

"Oh, maybe this will jog your memory. I called you hot in the second task of the Chunin Exams." I merrily tell her. "I still stand by that. Well done Iruka-sensei! I'm proud of you!"

"No shit?" Anko says in surprise. "I thought you died. How's things?"

"Language! There are children present!" Iruka pleas.

"Same old same old. Nothing noteworthy." I happily reply.

"Well you suck." That's not the response I expected. "Why can't you be more like that Alvarcus kid? He's your age and look at how much he's done!"

"Anko-chan that is Alvarcus." Iruka provides.

"Really?" She gives me a once over. "Huh, not what I expected. Anyways can I borrow this one" she wiggles her arm that Iruka is hanging off of, "for lunch? You can watch the kids right?"

"Heaven forbid no! He's not qualified, there's so much things he doesn't know about and he has no teaching experience and -"

"Only if you bring me back some food." I barter.

"Alvarcus no!" Iruka let's go of his grip on Anko to grasp me by the shoulders. He stares deep into my eyes with a pleading expression. "Don't encourage her!"

"Deal!" Anko grabs Iruka by the back of his collar and proceeds to drag him out of the classroom. "See ya in a few hours!"

"Alvarcus there's a schedule on my desk!" The retreating Iruka shouts. "Make sure to follow it to the letter! I'll be back as soon as I can escape!"

"Hold up a second!" I call after Anko and her hostage. I look at Iruka. "I was right, wasn't I?"

With his head held in defeat he replies, "Yes. It's amazing. Plus she's a great person when she isn't trying to kidnap me, really I've never met anyone like her."

"Carry on!" I wave goodbye to them. "You have a lunch date to go on!"

"Thanks kid!" Anko drags my former sensei out of the room.

"Ah good for him! I'm glad they're working out." I turn to the stunned class. "I take it that doesn't usually happen?"

No one answers me.

"Cool. So how about that schedule?" I walk over to Iruka's desk and plop down in his chair. "It's around here somewhere. Ah! Here we go. Next is supposed to be history. Boring, we're going to skip that."

"Really?" Someone hopefully asks.

"Then there's math." I suppress a shudder. There is no way I'm subjecting myself to more math. "Not doing that either, I never liked it that much."

"Is he serious?" Miss glasses says. "Math is very important."

"Hmm... Physical conditioning could be interesting. But I don't know what level you all are at."

"I think he's completely serious."

"Oh I know! Let's play a game of capture the flag!" That's a great idea! We're totally going to do that!

"What's capture the flag?" The child with the scar asks.

"That settles it!" I get out of Iruka's chair. "Everyone outside now!"

...

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