The Diversion

"Mizuki? Kazeka? This is bad!"

As a Chunin, Iruka could quickly assess the situation.

He knew Naruto's personality: carefree and simple-minded. From what he could see, Naruto had clearly been tricked.

Mizuki had deceived Naruto for a reason.

Clearly, he wanted Naruto to steal the Scroll of Seals and draw everyone's attention.

Then he could secretly kill Naruto, steal the Scroll of Seals, and hide away after reaping the rewards!

And when Kazeka heard about it, he hadn't tried to stop them. Instead, he'd agreed with the plan. That meant he wanted a share of the spoils, too!

This conclusion might have been somewhat hasty, but ninjas always had to consider the darkest possibilities.

Even if he was wrong, he could protect Naruto and take him to the Hokage;

then capture Mizuki and Kazeka and let the Hokage assign people to investigate at their leisure!

Iruka made up his mind and prepared to leave with Naruto and the Scroll of Seals.

However, just then, more than a dozen Kunai flew toward Naruto's vital points.

The weapons had come from the shadows, and Iruka's attention had been elsewhere. He couldn't protect Naruto in time.

All he could do was shove Naruto aside and take the attack himself!

"Ugh..."

With a muffled groan, Iruka was struck by the Kunai. He'd done his best to avoid his vital points, but several still hit him.

The force sent him crashing hard into the wooden cabin behind him.

"I never thought you'd manage to find this place, Iruka..."

Hearing the taunt from ahead, Iruka suppressed his pain and replied:

"I see. So it really was you, Mizuki!"

"Naruto..."

Ignoring Iruka's furious glare, Mizuki wore a calm expression, as if everything were under his control.

"Hand over the scroll!"

"W-what's going on here?!"

Faced with the bizarre scene, Naruto was completely dumbfounded. His brain simply couldn't keep up.

Iruka hurriedly spoke up:

"The Scroll of Seals contains many dangerous ninjutsu. Whatever you do, don't hand it over! Mizuki's using you to get the scroll. Run!"

"Don't listen to him, Naruto..."

Mizuki looked at Naruto standing frozen in place, a trace of mockery flashing in his eyes.

"Iruka hates you, too. You didn't know, did you? You're the Nine-Tails Fox. You were the one who killed Iruka's parents!

Do you really think someone like you could ever be liked by Iruka?"

Mizuki lifted the half-meter-diameter Shuriken from his back and readied himself to strike.

"Stay right where you are, Naruto. Don't worry, I'll make it quick. You won't suffer much.

After all, you stole the Scroll of Seals and took the blame for me. I owe you a proper thank-you!"

Mizuki flung the giant Shuriken toward Naruto. Paralyzed with fear, Naruto couldn't move.

Just as he was about to die, Iruka dragged his badly wounded body forward and once again used his back to shield Naruto from the attack!

Iruka and Naruto gazed into each other's eyes and shared their feelings, but Mizuki didn't take the opportunity to attack.

It wasn't because he didn't want to. The moment he made his move, two dark shapes suddenly sprang from beneath his feet, one biting at his ankle and the other at his wrist!

Mizuki dodged in time, but since he'd let his guard down, one of the shapes still managed to bite his ankle.

His wrist escaped the attack, but the Shuriken he'd thrown lost much of its power!

"It's you, Kazeka!"

"Oh my, oh my. To come up with such a crude plan, Mizuki, are you really a Chunin?"

Kazeka emerged from the shadows behind a tree. Seeing Mizuki's wary expression, he couldn't help but mock him:

"No wonder you had to steal the Scroll of Seals. With a brain like yours, training the normal way would take too long, so you could only turn to the dark side?"

"I was wondering who it was. Turns out it's you, the nutcase..."

When he saw Kazeka, the wariness gradually faded from Mizuki's eyes.

"You haven't even graduated from the Ninja Academy. I know you're a little strange, but only when you have plenty of time to prepare.

Judging by how hastily you got here, you couldn't have prepared much. Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish too!"

"You really are a simple-minded fool. I'm starting to wonder whether I should remove you from my list of experimental subjects..."

Kazeka walked over to Naruto and draped a huge cloak over him.

"Don't cry. Wipe your face, Iruka-sensei..."

Kazeka turned his gaze to Iruka.

"Let's deal with this arrogant fool together.

You're injured, but he's been poisoned by me, so we're evenly matched!"

"Kazeka, what exactly are you up to...?"

Iruka stared at Kazeka.

"I heard from Naruto that he told you Mizuki's plan, and you actually agreed with it.

With your brains, you couldn't possibly have missed what was going on!

And why did Naruto come to you when he ran into trouble?"

"Naruto came to me because I gave him the thumbs-down during the exam.

But after seeing my experimental procedure, he thought Mizuki's plan seemed safer.

As for why I did this, it was to lure Mizuki out and catch him in the act.

As for his plan, I've already sent a message to the Hokage. You think the Hokage didn't know about it?

Oh, maybe someone intercepted the messenger bird I sent along the way, but that doesn't matter..."

Kazeka waved a hand dismissively.

"So, are we going to team up or not?"

"You really did poison me!"

Before Iruka could reply, Mizuki checked himself over and suddenly shouted in anger.

Looking at the furious Mizuki, Kazeka rolled his eyes.

"You're so stupid you could make someone cry.

For a scientist, every preparation is thorough, no matter the time or place.

This weakness poison was carefully concocted by me. It won't alert you right away, and by the time you notice, it'll already be too late to fight back..."

Before Kazeka could finish speaking, Iruka was already charging at Mizuki.

Seeing this, Kazeka stopped talking and pulled out several Shuriken, occasionally firing them at Mizuki from a distance as the two fought.

The first two attacks had left Iruka badly wounded.

But with Kazeka's help and Mizuki poisoned, the fight continued, even as Mizuki grew frantic.

Before long, the other ninjas arrived. Together, they beat Mizuki until his face was swollen and bruised, then tied him up with rope!

"Kazeka, it looks like I really did misunderstand you..."

Watching Kazeka busily helping everyone, Iruka apologized.

"If you hadn't been here, I can't imagine how serious the consequences might have been..."

"You're too kind, Iruka-sensei..."

Kazeka smiled as he replied:

"You were thinking of the greater good. There's no need to dwell on it."

Iruka nodded at that, but seeing how suddenly polite Kazeka had become, he couldn't help feeling that something was wrong.

He stood there thinking for a moment, then suddenly attacked Kazeka. When Kazeka burst into a cloud of white smoke, Iruka exclaimed in shock:

"Why is Kazeka just a clone? This is bad..."

Iruka looked behind Naruto. As Kazeka's clone disappeared, the Scroll of Seals behind him also turned into a cloud of white smoke.

"He switched it when he handed Naruto the cloak just now! That brat's target was the Scroll of Seals from the very beginning!"