Shino walked calmly around the desk, shifting through Iruka’s papers again. He’d never taught before, but he knew Iruka was one of the best teachers in the whole village. His lesson plan seemed fairly complete; so long as Shino followed it, everything should go smoothly.

A part of Shino worried about his sensei, but he had to ignore that for now. Kakashi would take care of that, he had to take care of the kids.

It was still several minutes before the children started filing in, more than enough time for Shino to read through Iruka’s schedule for the day and adjust what he could handle himself. The first small group of children walked to their seats, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. Following them, a little boy completely froze in the doorway. Shino looked at him, but waited for the child to break the silence. “Where’s Iruka-sensei?”

The girls already at their desks looked up sharply, noticing Shino for the first time. Shino nodded at them. “Iruka-sensei is feeling quite ill. I’ll be teaching you all today.” The boy in the doorway hesitated another moment, as if not trusting the boy posing as his teacher, but after a moment he walked quietly to his desk.

Twenty minutes later, all the students had arrived and Shino smiled at them, offering a small bow. “Iruka-sensei isn’t feeling well,” he repeated. “I’ll be teaching you today. I am Shino Aburame.” He glanced down at the lesson plan as a guide. “First we’ll be working from your books. Everyone take them out and open to chapter three.”

There was a universal groan, but the students obeyed and Shino began reading. The chapter was about hand-to-hand combat, very basic and very thorough. But it would likely eat away the whole time until morning break. One student raised his hand. After a moment, he ‘hmmed’ loudly to draw Shino’s attention. The bug user looked up, somewhat startled. “Oh, uh, yes?”

“What does that mean?”

Behind his glasses, Shino blinked, looking back down at the book. “Um, what does what mean?”

“When it says a strike from the core. What does that mean?”

Shino looked back at the text, skimming the lines again to take the sentence in context. “Ah. It means that when you strike for this move, you have to take power from your center of gravity and your hips, rather than your shoulders. You can get the same amount of power without the windup that would give away the move.”

Thirty faces stared at him, identical blank looks on each. Shino frowned slightly and walked around to the front of the desk. He lifted one fist and struck out, slowly, demonstrating the move. “Like this.”

There was no change in the incomprehension staring at him. After a moment, a little girl in the front began to look panicked. “We can’t see! Take off your jacket.”

“Explain it better, Sensei,” another voice chimed.

Shino’s frown deepened. He wasn’t a combat fighter. He could show every aspect of insect control there was and recite entire textbooks on the subject by heart, but hand to hand wasn’t something he was so familiar with and his specialty was far too advanced for this class. “Let’s just move on, shall we?” He stalked back around the desk and sat, leaning over the book again. The next several paragraphs talked about locks and holds to go into from the block talked about earlier.

“Sensei!” Shino glanced up again at the somewhat frantic cry. Udon had his hand stretched into the air as far as it would go. “How do you do this move?”

Shino blinked and looked down at the book, rereading the line. “With a strong parry, force the limb downward, grabbing the muscle firmly as you twist around to-“

“But what does that mean?”

“Oh. It’s talking about the pressure points that can be found between the radius and the ulna and how you can immobilize a person or break their arm if you stress the trochlea-“

“The what?”

Shino paused, blinking. “The, uh, the joint of the elbow-“

“Show us!”

“Make a clone so we can see it.”

“It’s what Iruka does!”

Shino hesitated again. He supposed, if he thought about it, that a visual demonstration would be far easier to help the children understand. But making a clone would only give Shino another him with only mediocre skills and baggy, concealing clothing. “All right,” he said, striking on sudden inspiration. “You all read this chapter. I’ll be back in ten minutes and you can ask any questions you have.”

The class nodded silently and Shino formed a few seals, transporting himself across town to save some time. Lee was easy to find, training away as he always did early in the morning. Spotting the younger boy he paused. “Is there something I can do for you, Shino-kun?”

The bug user nodded. “I’m covering Iruka-sensei’s class today, but the material is a bit beyond me. I need some help to demonstrate some simple sparring moves and holds, and since you’re the best in the village at taijutsu . . .”

Lee’s face had gradually lost its smile and he was now staring at the other boy in horror. “You’re teaching the class alone?” Shino nodded, clearly not understanding. Lee let out a shuddering breath and tried again. “And you left them there without supervision?”

Shino’s eyes grew huge and he spun, sprinting back towards the school. Lee followed and a few seconds later, the boys leapt through the window to save the few seconds going around to the door would take. Shino stopped, somewhat startled at how quickly a classroom could be destroyed. Lee didn’t pause, smoothly catching Konohamaru as he leapt from one of the desks. The intervention brought sudden calm as the children all looked at their teacher.

Shino blinked several times before he calmly walked to the front of the room again. As if a switch had been flipped, the children all scrambled to their desks, ignoring the state of the classroom as a whole. They watched in complete silence as Shino read from the book, carefully demonstrating each move with the help of Rock Lee. Several hands raised with questions, but Shino firmly ignored them.

When it was finally time for morning break, Shino collapsed into the desk chair, rubbing his temples gently. Lee looked over with a chuckle. “Why are you covering for Iruka-sensei anyway?”

“It’s complicated.”

Seeing that he wouldn’t get any more than that, Lee shrugged. “It would be unthinkable to abandon you to those children for the entire day. I will stay and lend you my aid!” A slight pause and Lee glanced down at the papers on the desk. “Is there a plan for the rest of the day?”

Shino lifted the lesson plan. “After break the students go to specialized lessons. Iruka’s covering weapon safety and some beginning jutsus with his older class.” These were the two classes Iruka would teach through to graduation, but at the moment they were both young, only covering the very basics in anything they learned.

Lee nodded, but he was frowning. “I won’t be any help there. But I can at least repair some of this damage.” The few minutes of freedom had left books and papers scattered everywhere, more than one desk damaged. Slowly the boys put things back in order, almost finishing before the students filed in again.

The children all gave Shino and Lee odd looks, but for the most part took their seats without comment. Throwing out the last of the destroyed papers, Shino turned to face the students, bowing slightly just as the tone sounded to start class. “Good morning, I’ll be teaching your class today, my name is Shino Aburame.”

With no explanation to their sensei’s absence, the class stirred a little, but no one raised any objections. Satisfied, Shino stalked to the weapons cabinet and opened it. Weapons safety, at least, was fairly simple. It was the sort of lecture that was repeated every couple of months, the type that the teachers drove home until the children could repeat it word for word because it was simply that important. Shino still remembered most of it from when he’d memorized it years ago.

He was just pulling out several kunai when one of the children let out a sigh. Shino could sympathize, but he wasn’t about to change the lesson plan. He started with the very basics; don’t hold the sharp part, aim before you throw anything, keep your weapons oiled and cleaned. Once those were out of the way, he moved on to shuriken just as several students sighed again.

Shino paused, glancing at the class and then at Lee. The other teen was smiling slightly, but other than that nothing seemed off. Shino held up the small weapons, going over the same basics he’d just said for the kunai. This time, the sigh came from nearly every student in the class. Shino looked up sharply, but all of them were just sitting there, staring at him and looking quite bored. Fine.

Shino went back to the weapons cabinet, pulling out two long strings. One was chakra thread, the other a fine metal filament. Shino could understand being bored with the basics, but these were things the kids wouldn’t see for another year or two. It was still the basics, still lectures Shino had memorized, but surely it wasn’t too much to give them some entertainment, right? For a long time, the class sat in silence as the teen lectured. He finished the basics and was showing a little of what you could do with each. He caught the signal that time as the entire class suddenly sighed heavily.

Lee was chuckling very quietly and Shino sent a glare at him. The green clad boy just shrugged. “What, they’re all sitting quietly.”

Shino glared harder, but got no reaction from the other. “Chakra basics,” he suddenly snapped, voice harsh enough that anyone who heard it would know he was reaching the end of his patience. Only a couple of brave children dared giggle.

The advantage to chakra training was that it had the kids up and moving slightly. The disadvantage was that Shino had no choice but to focus on one child while the others practiced on their own. He was especially nervous that something would happen while his back was turned. He only got more nervous when nothing did happen.

But eventually the class period ended and Shino watched as the children gathered their things to go to lunch. All that was left was lunch and then a couple of hours with the younger kids again. Shino moved around Iruka’s desk, sitting heavily to rest his legs. The boy’s eyes widened behind his glasses and the last few kids ran out the door in giggles.

Lee blinked slowly, wrinkling his brow at the retreating children. “What was that about?”

Shino let out a long-suffering sigh. “Lee, could you do me another favor?” The other boy nodded and Shino sighed again. “It’s going to take most of lunch to dissolve the chakra-glue on my chair. Can you please go get me something to eat?”

Lee nodded. “Ah, a classic. Don’t worry, Shino-san! I’ll run home and get some of Gai-sensei’s fortifying stew! It will get you through the rest of the day without fail!”

Shino tried to stand, reaching out to stop Lee, but the boy was already gone. “Ramen!” Shino called after him. “A sandwich or rice balls! Not . . .” Lee was already gone. The boy let out another long sigh. How did Iruka do this day in and day out? If the kids didn’t kill him, Gai’s cooking would. Well, at least he had some help, he thought as he began dissolving the glue.

By the time Lee returned, Shino had managed to get unstuck, but thankfully the kids came back before he had to think up some excuse for not eating the strange bubbling goo Lee had brought for lunch. The children didn’t move to their seats, knowing the school routine better than Shino did. He quickly pulled the schedule around to where he could see, realizing that this was when the class usually went out for weapons training.

For a long minute, Shino thought about this class of children, almost thirty little mini-ninja, armed. Repressing a shudder, the bug user nodded at Lee and led the class outside. There was little he could do to control this situation and it was Lee to finally offer the best solution. They limited the number of weapons, forcing the children into lines; a practice in patience, Lee called it. This way only four kids were ever armed at a time, much more reasonable.

If only it had worked.

After twenty minutes . . . well Shino didn’t even know where they’d gotten the extra weapons and now he was frantic just trying to gather them all back up. He was actually rather impressed that they didn’t immediately injure each other. Instead, Konohamaru had made the rather loud suggestion that they try moving targets. Lee was currently running madly, trying to intercept the miniature projectiles before they skewered the local wildlife. Most of the kids were still aiming for squirrels and small birds, but a few had taken to trying to hit Lee as he darted back and forth.

Without warning, a pair of girls screamed. Shino was instantly focused on them, fearing the worst as he darted to their sides. With his back turned, Shino was a perfect target and he just counted himself lucky that these kids were still beginners. Whoever had decided to take the opening was bad enough that the kunai flipped, hitting Shino’s back with the blunt round end. The teen ignored it, focusing on the hysterical girls. “What’s wrong, where does it hurt?”

One of the girls, a little blonde, pointed in front of her, unable to speak past her tears. The other girl wouldn’t look, but was screaming fairly constantly. “Kill it, kill it, it’s gross, get it away, away!”

Shino put himself between the two girls and whatever the problem was, still looking them over for signs of blood or trauma. Satisfied that neither child was actually hurt, he finally focused on what was causing this reaction. “What’s this? Don’t tell me you two are afraid of a little beetle!” The insect was half as big as Shino’s hand, but was unremarkable beyond that.

Both girl’s screamed loudly.

With a bit of a sigh, Shino picked up the little bug, letting it crawl over his hand. “Look, insects aren’t scary. As future kunoichi, you can’t be afraid of them and in fact you can learn to use them as a valuable tool.” The children were quiet and Shino smiled, thinking he was getting through to them. “Look,” he muttered, coaxing out a pair of Kikaichu to crawl out onto his hand joining the beetle. “Insects are fascinating and valuable tool-“

Shino was thirteen, a graduated genin and looking forward to the next chunin exam. He was certain he’d nearly made chunin the last time and had since had several high risk but very successful missions. He’d even been trusted as a mission leader for a few of them. It was that much more humiliating therefore, to be completely felled by two eight-year-olds. The twin screams were deafening and Shino was totally blindsided by their kicks and punches. Somewhere in the back of his mind he noted never to try and teach any of his personal techniques to any girl still attending academy.

Shino blinked, dazed, up at the clouds, slowly realizing his glasses were now cracked. After another moment, Shino realized Lee was poised above him, clearly watching him but his eyes turned to keep track of the kids. Shino reached one hand up, adjusting his cracked glasses, and he slowly sat up.

The horror on Lee’s face was a tangible thing. He looked at Shino for a moment before focusing on the children again. “Shino-san, I’m not sure what to do.”

“They’re just children. It shouldn’t be this hard!”

“I overheard several of them talking about their lunches. These kids are sent to school with pudding and soda and candy bars! There’s still three hours before the school day is over . . . I’m not sure how to handle this without more help . . .”

Suddenly Shino fell back onto the ground, content to lay there in the grass. He knew what to do and drew breath to give the order. “Class dismissed!”

For a long minute, Lee blinked. Slowly Shino sat up again, taking in the suddenly empty yard, weapons strewn around the grass. Another minute ticked by and Lee stood uncertainly. “You realize the parents will be upset, right?”

Scowling, Shino stood as well. “I challenge any one of them to come here and go through what we just did. If they’re still standing after that, they’re welcome to come complaining to me.”

-o-o-o-owari-o-o-o-