naruto:Reborn as Iruka

The moon hovered high, veiled behind a shroud of drifting clouds. The forest was still, but the air carried tension—like a bowstring drawn too tight.

Three shadows flickered through the trees. When they landed, it was without sound, without warning. They stood at the edge of a slope where earth gave way to reinforced steel.

"This is it," Kakashi said, kneeling beside a narrow hatch. "One of their emergency tunnels."

Guy cracked his knuckles. "How poetic that the darkness hid beneath the earth."

Iruka didn't answer. His eyes were locked on the seal markings along the tunnel's edge. He placed a hand on the ground—Observation Haki flaring out, painting the structure in instinctive detail.

"There's a chakra-dampening field inside," he said. "We disable that, and we break the barrier locking this section."

Kakashi nodded. "I'll handle the seal. Cover me."

As Kakashi worked, Guy stood watch, and Iruka pressed his palm to the dirt. His other hand rested on the hilt of Enma.

The silence was broken by the soft click of a disabled seal.

"Let's go."

They dropped into the tunnel like ghosts. Silent, fast.

But what they found inside wasn't silence.

It was screaming.

**

They hit the first room hard. Iruka shattered the door with a swipe of Armament-coated Enma, then leapt forward, knocking two Root guards unconscious with a burst of Conqueror's Haki. The room trembled as chakra pressure cracked the floor.

Kakashi's Sharingan flared red as he moved through the shadows, disabling seals and counter-traps. Guy surged ahead—controlled strength in every movement.

Deeper inside, they breached the lab chambers—and that's when the horror revealed itself.

Children.

Hundreds of them.

Some suspended in fluid tanks. Some strapped to medical tables. Limbs replaced. Eyes gouged. Others were already… gone. Experiments reduced them to unrecognizable forms. Their chakra signatures were faint. Iruka nearly dropped his blade.

Guy's voice, trembling: "This… this is not youth. This is evil."

Iruka's face twisted. "They're just kids."

"I've seen enough blood for ten lifetimes," Kakashi muttered, fists clenched. "And this still makes me sick."

Iruka slammed his fist into the wall, shaking the chamber. "How many of us fought in the Third War, gave everything for this village… while this filth grew beneath our feet?"

**

The next wing was worse.

Scrolls lined the walls. Chakra-sealed drawers stacked high.

They cracked them open—and truth spilled out like poison.

"Mission Log—White Fang: Classified. Status: Compromised by internal leak."

Iruka's eyes widened. "They fed intel to the enemy?"

Kakashi's face darkened.

Another scroll: "Uchiha Clan Movement: Prevented deployment during Nine-Tails assault. Orders to restrict civilian contact."

A third: "Hokage Candidate List—Sabotage Protocols. Candidates: Sakumo Hatake, Orochimaru, Shikaku Nara…"

And there—one Iruka opened with trembling hands:

"Hatake, Kakashi. Psychological file. Suggest conditioning: emotional suppression, kill-order obedience. Limit long-term potential."

Kakashi didn't say a word.

But his hand trembled as he closed the scroll.

Iruka put a hand on his shoulder. "They tried to break you. You didn't let them."

Kakashi forced a bitter smile. "Some cracks never show."

**

The lights cut out.

A whisper of motion. And suddenly, they weren't alone.

"Found us faster than expected," came a voice—cold, hollow.

Torune Aburame stepped into the corridor, cloaked in Root black, kikaichū already swarming from beneath his sleeves.

"You've seen too much," he said.

Guy stepped forward. "And you've done too much."

Torune launched first—kikaichū exploding from his arms. Kakashi countered with kunai and a burst of lightning chakra, but the insects devoured it mid-air.

"I'll take him," said Guy, opening the Fifth Gate.

The room shook as his skin flushed red, muscles bulging. He dashed forward, fists like meteors. Torune dodged the first barrage, countering with a spray of poisonous chakra bugs.

One touched Guy's shoulder—rot beginning instantly. But Iruka was there, slicing the swarm in two with Enma, black Armament Haki coating the blade like a storm cloud.

"Stay clear," Iruka said, eyes glowing with Conqueror's fury. "I'm ending this."

He surged forward. Enma clashed with Torune's kunai in a sharp metallic shriek. Observation Haki let him read the rhythm—Torune's movement, the chakra shifts in his bugs, even the hesitation when his technique left an opening.

Iruka shifted stance.

One slice.

The kunai snapped.

Two strikes.

Torune's chakra arm shattered.

Third.

A burst of Conqueror's Haki sent Torune crashing into the wall. The insects scattered.

He tried to rise.

Iruka appeared behind him.

"Your darkness ends here."

Enma's pommel struck the base of his neck.

Torune collapsed.

Unconscious.

**

The final chamber held three surviving children—barely clinging to life. The rest… they couldn't be saved. Not even by a medical miracle.

Kakashi was on one knee, hand trembling as he looked at the three.

"They're just kids…"

Iruka nodded, his face hard but his eyes burning.

"We're taking them."

Guy picked them up gently, like they were made of glass.

Kakashi scanned the documents once more, gathering every last one into sealing scrolls.

"Let's burn this place," he said, voice like ice.

Iruka took one last look around—the tables, the blood, the silence.

He raised a hand. "Let's end it."

With a flash of chakra and fire, the seals detonated. The underground base crumbled. Flames devoured the lab. The weight of secrets turned to ash.

**

Back in the forest, the three figures emerged into the moonlight.

Iruka held one of the children in his arms.

Guy carried two.

Kakashi walked beside them, scrolls in his flak vest, smoke trailing behind them.

They didn't speak.

But as they passed the edge of the forest, Iruka looked back once.

And whispered:

"No more Root."

Chapter end....