"Naruto! Satsuki! Stop right there!"
Iruka's voice, chasing after them, was full of urgency. "You two troublemakers, get back here and apologize to the Hokage!"
"No way!" Naruto did not even look back. "The Third Hokage isn't that petty. He definitely knows we weren't really causing trouble!"
"You problem student! Stop right now!" Iruka shouted louder, a vein throbbing at his temple. "Do you have any idea how frightening that was just now? I thought you were really going to secretly spar at school! Have you forgotten all the Ninja Academy's rules? This is completely ridiculous!"
In the classroom building's corridor, footsteps, scolding, and the boys' light running and jumping blended together. As Iruka chased them, the weight hanging over his heart quietly settled—thank goodness... they had not actually started fighting.
But then a wave of lingering fear rose within him. What if the Third Hokage had not informed him in time? These two had no sense of restraint when sparring. If they really started fighting, what if they set the Ninja Academy on fire? What if one of them suffered a serious injury that could never heal?
If something like that really happened, Iruka would never be able to forgive himself.
"Listen to me!" Iruka gritted his teeth and quickened his pace. "I'll reflect on this with you! It's my responsibility for not teaching you to follow the rules properly! But you'd better stop right now, Naruto!"
"No way!"
Naruto suddenly turned into a classroom beside them. For some reason, the lights were still on in that classroom despite how late it was—it was their class's room. Satsuki followed close behind and darted inside as well.
"You little bastard—"
Iruka shoved open the classroom door, but the rest of his rebuke seemed to catch in his throat and stopped