Ninja Academy Hostages

The Konoha Ninja Academy should have been quiet at night.

The classroom windows were shut tight, and the training posts on the field cast long, thin shadows in the moonlight. Usually, only two teachers stayed on night duty. After checking the barrier and equipment storeroom, they would record the next day's lessons in the duty room.

Tonight, the academy's barrier had been opened from within.

Iruka was tied beside the lectern in a first-year classroom. Blood stained the corner of his mouth, and sealing ropes bound his hands. Three other teachers were nearby: one unconscious, one with a blade wound in his shoulder, and the third forced to kneel.

A dozen or so children, seized on short notice, sat at the back of the classroom.

Most were academy students who lived nearby. They had been taken from their homes and were pale with fear, but they dared not cry too loudly.

Sarutobi Muneyoshi sat at the teacher's desk.

His hair was completely white, his face deeply lined, and he wore a dark clan robe. An old wooden staff rested at his side. At a glance, he looked like an elder who had left the center of power years ago.

But every ninja in the classroom wearing an unmarked mask obeyed his orders.

Iruka looked up at him, his voice hoarse.

"You're insane. This is the Ninja Academy."

Sarutobi Muneyoshi gazed out the window.

"That's exactly why Naruto will come."

Iruka struggled, and the sealing ropes dug into his flesh.

"Naruto is just a child."

Sarutobi Muneyoshi turned toward him.

"After tonight, no one will dare treat him like one."

Iruka froze.

He had been taken from his home and hadn't seen what happened on Central Street. He had only heard those men say Naruto had gone berserk, killed Danzo, and forced the advisers to flee.

The news was a jumble, like a nightmare.

He refused to believe Naruto had become the monster they described.

But Sarutobi Muneyoshi's eyes told him things really had changed outside.

A rush of wind sounded downstairs.

Not ordinary wind.

It was the sound of Chakra speeding past.

Sarutobi Muneyoshi raised a hand.

The masked ninja immediately pressed their Kunai to the children's throats.

Outside the classroom door, Naruto stopped.

The corridor was dark. Moonlight streamed through the windows and fell across his old, grimy jacket.

Jiraiya, Kakashi, Tekka, and the Third Hokage arrived behind him.

At the sight of the children, the Third Hokage's face darkened.

"Muneyoshi, do you know what you're doing?"

Sarutobi Muneyoshi gave a brief laugh.

"Lord Third Hokage, I'm cleaning up the mess you left the Sarutobi Clan."

The Third Hokage's gaze hardened.

"By taking children hostage?"

Sarutobi Muneyoshi shot back, "When those files were made public on Central Street tonight, did you spare a thought for the Sarutobi Clan's children?"

The words struck the Third Hokage.

Sarutobi Muneyoshi looked at Naruto.

"Naruto Uzumaki, hand over all the files and stop the public inquiry. Danzo is dead, and the advisers are finished. You've had your revenge."

Naruto stood in the classroom doorway, his gaze sweeping over the children in the back row.

Some of them might have called him Demon Fox earlier that day.

Others were simply ordinary students.

When Iruka saw Naruto, he struggled and shouted, "Naruto, forget about me! They won't really dare kill the children!"

Sarutobi Muneyoshi raised his hand.

A masked ninja's Kunai sliced a boy's neck, drawing beads of blood.

The frightened boy burst into tears.

Iruka's eyes went wide with rage.

"Stop!"

Sarutobi Muneyoshi's voice remained steady.

"I don't want to kill them. But the Sarutobi Clan cannot be dragged into ruin by some brat's revenge."

Naruto stared at him.

"So you took children hostage."

Sarutobi Muneyoshi frowned.

"This is a deal."

"No."

Naruto took a step forward.

"They're the last thing you have left to hide behind."

The masked ninja pressed their Kunai tighter.

Kakashi said under his breath, "Naruto, don't be rash. The classroom's too small, and they're too close to the children."

Jiraiya lowered his voice too. "I can use Toad Oil to control the floor, but I'll need a moment."

Naruto did not look back.

"No need."

His Chakra did not erupt.

Instead, his Nine-Tails Chakra narrowed to invisible threads of flame that slowly spread along the corridor floor, around the corners, and through the shadows beneath the desks.

Sarutobi Muneyoshi kept his eyes fixed on Naruto himself and noticed nothing underfoot.

He thought Naruto would crush them with brute force, just as he had on Central Street.

That was what Muneyoshi had prepared for.

Children, hostages, a cramped room, Kunai at their throats.

That would tie the hands of any powerful fighter.

But Naruto had already won the Nine-Tails' allegiance.

Its Chakra was no longer a wild beast's fire.

It was a thread that obeyed him.

Sarutobi Muneyoshi began, "I'll count to three. Three—"

Naruto looked at him.

"You won't get to three."

As the words fell, fine orange-red threads of Chakra shot out from beneath every desk and chair in the back row.

The threads wrapped around the masked ninja's wrists and yanked.

Every Kunai veered away from a child's throat.

The next instant, Chakra fox claws burst through the floor, wrapped around the children one by one, and pulled them toward the back wall.

Kakashi reacted first. His Sharingan activated, and he used the Body Flicker Technique to enter the room and cut through the sealing ropes binding Iruka.

Jiraiya hurled a scroll. Toad Oil spread across the floor, sticking two masked ninja in place as they tried to blow themselves up.

Uchiha Tekka led the Konoha Military Police Force through the windows.

The entire rescue took less than two breaths.

For the first time, Sarutobi Muneyoshi's expression changed.

He struck the floor with his wooden staff, and Explosive Tags lit up in all four corners of the classroom.

"Then we die together!"

Naruto appeared in front of him.

A small hand pressed down on the staff.

Golden Sealing Jutsu flowed down the wood and into the floor, locking down all four Explosive Tags.

Naruto looked up at the old man.

"You old bastard."

"You don't get to take anyone with you when you die."

One punch.

Sarutobi Muneyoshi flew backward, smashed through the blackboard, and lodged halfway into the wall.

Chalk dust drifted down.

The children throughout the classroom broke into tears.

Iruka knelt on the floor, breathing hard. As he looked at Naruto, his eyes reddened.

"Naruto..."

Naruto did not look at him. He walked straight to Sarutobi Muneyoshi.

Blood ran from the old man's mouth, but he was still smiling.

"You won this classroom."

"But the Sarutobi Clan won't accept it."

Naruto crouched, grabbed his hair, and lifted his face.

"Then I'll make the whole clan come out and accept it."

Outside the window, three red signal flares suddenly rose from the direction of the Sarutobi Clan Compound.

The Third Hokage saw them, and his face changed drastically.

"That's the Sarutobi Clan's battle readiness signal."