Was this fate?
Or just plain misfortune?
Iruka sighed.
The Third Hokage’s solemn warning from not long ago surfaced in his mind as he looked at Uchiha Gengetsu standing before him.
For a moment, he felt as though ten thousand wild horses were stampeding through his heart.
Why is reality always so screwed up?!
“What are you spacing out for?
Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten me?”
By the time Iruka came back to his senses, Gengetsu had already walked up to him.
With one hand resting on her hip, she looked at him with an utterly composed expression.
She seemed to have read a book or two about how women could best display their charm.
Unfortunately for her, after the Third Hokage’s warning, the person standing before Iruka wasn’t an enchanting young beauty.
She was an endlessly self-powered troublemaking machine.
“How should I put this?
So this really is one of those situations…
Sigh.
I’m seriously unlucky.”
“What kind of reaction is that when you run into someone?”
There was no avoiding her, so he could only face the situation head-on.
Although he had promised the Third Hokage that he wouldn’t approach Uchiha Gengetsu, it wasn’t as though he had approached her.
She had come looking for him.
He couldn’t exactly pretend not to see her, could he?
Even if the Third Hokage blamed him, he had a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Iruka raised his dead-fish eyes, looking as though his motivation had dropped into the negatives, and spoke listlessly.
“So?
What exactly do you want with me?
Please get straight to the point.
Better yet, tell me while we’re walking—or just go find someone else.”
“You really do have a strange way of talking to people.
Come to think of it, I’ve never heard anyone speak like you before.
Is this some new fashion trend?”
Gengetsu continued chatting with him as though they were already old acquaintances, apparently with no intention of leaving anytime soon.
Iruka immediately shot her an irritated glare.
“A trend, my ass.
If you don’t like the way I talk, then don’t talk to me.”
“You’ve got quite the mouth on you, you damn pervert!”
Gengetsu stared directly into Iruka’s dead-fish eyes with the same look one might give a piece of trash.
Having somehow acquired two nicknames in the span of a single day, Iruka’s eye twitched.
“Hey, hey.
I’ll admit to ‘scar-face’—that’s just part of my charm.
But where the hell did ‘damn pervert’ come from?
Who exactly have I been perving on?”
“Then how did you know what kind of outfit I was wearing?”
“Please.
Last night, you were lying there sprawled out like that for everyone to see.”
“I-I wasn’t sprawled out!”
Gengetsu’s momentum immediately weakened.
After all, she really had lost her composure the night before, and it wasn’t Iruka’s fault.
But being unreasonable was a woman’s prerogative.
Even knowing that Iruka wasn’t actually in the wrong, Gengetsu still planted both hands on her hips and stared into his dead-fish eyes, trying to make him back down through sheer force of will.
It didn’t work in the slightest.
Iruka looked at her with undisguised contempt.
The corner of his mouth curled upward in a faintly disdainful smirk.
“Let’s be reasonable here.
Only an idiot passes up a free show.”
“That’s enough out of you.”
“Then stop calling me a damn pervert.
I’m obviously a perfect gentleman.”
“What kind of gentleman judges women by their looks?”
Neither of them noticed that despite this being only their second meeting, there wasn’t the slightest hint of unfamiliarity in their conversation.
Instead, they bickered like old friends who had known each other for years.
Their words were sharp and confrontational, yet without realizing it, they were steadily closing the distance between them.
Things rarely developed the way people expected.
Iruka had originally intended to brush Gengetsu off with a few perfunctory words, but before he knew it, he had begun actively talking with her instead.
He suddenly realized that bickering with Gengetsu brought him a faint but genuine sense of ease.
Even the discomfort caused by the mutual repulsion between his two types of chakra seemed to lessen.
“Oh, right.
I should thank you for returning that training record sheet.
Not that it was particularly important.”
Iruka spoke as though he had only just remembered.
“There’s absolutely no sincerity in that.
Is that supposed to be how you thank someone?
And that last part was completely unnecessary.”
“Don’t you think it’s kind of pathetic to care about such trivial details?”
“I think I’d feel even more pathetic if I didn’t care.”
Iruka shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Just then, a clear and pleasant female voice called out from behind them.
“I finally found you, Gengetsu!
The captain was right—whenever you have nothing to do, you always come wandering around here.”
The newcomer was a young woman dressed in fitted black attire, her fair arms exposed.
She had long black hair parted down the middle.
Apparently, she had rushed over in a hurry, as a thin sheen of sweat covered her delicate face.
Yet it did nothing to diminish her beauty.
If anything, it lent her a distinctive charm.
Though she’s still a little less attractive than Uchiha Gengetsu~
For some reason, Iruka instinctively compared the two of them.
Naturally, Uchiha Gengetsu won.
Gengetsu failed to notice the fleeting look in Iruka’s eyes and instead turned to the girl who had rushed over.
“What is it, Izumi?
Why were you looking for me?”
“It wasn’t me.
It’s the captain.
About—”
The girl called Izumi suddenly noticed Iruka standing beside Gengetsu and immediately stopped herself.
“Um…
the captain has something to discuss with you.
Hurry up and come back with me.”
If Iruka still hadn’t realized that his presence was somewhat unnecessary, he would have been an idiot.
“I’ll be going, then.
See you around.”
Iruka offered his farewell at just the right moment.
Uchiha Izumi visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
But at that moment, Gengetsu suddenly reached out and grabbed Iruka by the wrist.
Ignoring his puzzled look, she spoke as though it were only natural.
“Even though you probably learned my name from the Third Hokage, I think it’s better if we introduce ourselves properly.”
She paused and took a deep breath.
“My name is Uchiha Gengetsu, and I’m a member of the Konoha Military Police Force.
Remember it well.
If you ever break the law, I have the authority to haul you off to the Police Force headquarters.”
“Tch!
Remember it, my ass.
I don’t break the law, so what are you going to do about it?”
“You never know.”
“Then come talk to me after I’ve actually broken one.”
Iruka shrugged and casually shook free of her grasp.
He shoved both hands into his pockets and said nothing more as he leisurely headed down another street.
He failed to notice that behind him, the corner of Gengetsu’s lips had curled upward—or the inexplicable smile spreading across her nearly flawless face.