wraithvault

C4

A loud splash drew his attention away from one of his students trying to climb a tree without using hands, to the other side of the slow river. Before he could run over in his worry, a thoroughly soaked head emerged from the water and took a large gulp of air.

"I fell in again, Iruka-sensei!" Kaito gleefully announced to the world at large, his voice almost echoing.

Iruka sighed and answered, "I see that, Kaito-kun!"

Two months into his career as a teacher, and the chakra control exercises had proved to be unexpectedly popular. Apparently, the idea of walking up walls, on water and on top of rooftops was really cool, and the kids had all worked hard to learn it. It helped that as children, they had less chakra, which translated to an easier time learning to control it. This was the reason why they were by one of the rivers in Konoha, some of the kids practicing water-walking, some tree-walking and others learning how to swim in the shallow end.

It had only taken Iruka a few weeks to figure out that teaching them outside of the training grounds like this was much easier if he made clones, as even the illusion of supervision made them behave better.

Otherwise, they would be running wild as soon as he took his eyes off of them.

Another splash signified that another of his students had fallen into the water. Luckily, they had all brought a change of clothing with them, so they wouldn't be getting sick later. A few civilian parents had asked him why they didn't practice with bathing clothes, and had only barely accepted his reason that nobody wore those on missions and so it was better to practice in regular attire.

Iruka stared up at the tree-tops and determined that class would be over in about half-an-hour. He whistled and watched as the many pairs of eyes were redirected toward him. "Half-an-hour left now!"

The kids aww'd and gave him begging looks, but Iruka was not about to lengthen the class for them.

The last time he did that, the Headmaster was furious with him and threatened to place him in charge of detention.

Iruka did not want to be saddled with even more kids, especially ones that he didn't know.

The rest of the class went by fine, even if he had to run to catch four kids that had climbed too far on the trees before they fell down. Iruka dismissed his clones when he felt the time was right and whistled once more. "Get out of the water and change your clothes!"

Fifteen kids soared out of the water like a tidal-wave of doom, cheering and speaking excitedly with each other.

"Iruka-sensei, Iruka-sensei!" one of the kids called out.

He turned to them and rose an eyebrow. "Yes, Ami-chan?"

Ami was coming running at him, holding hands with Chiyo and smiling at him, her eyes practically sparkling. She was dragging the blushing girl behind her, though Chiyo didn't look to be resisting much. "Chiyo-chan managed to stay on the water the whole time! Isn't she amazing?!"

As Ami beamed at him, he could see the gap from where she had lost a tooth. Iruka smiled at them both and leaned down to ruffle both's of their hair. "Congratulations!"

Chiyo's blush darkened further and she ducked her head until he couldn't see her face. Iruka ruffled her hair once more, unable to resist when she was so adorable. "You did very well, Chiyo-chan. I'm proud of you."

She let out a peep and promptly hid behind Ami.

Iruka smiled at them again and then abruptly turned and caught the boy that had thrown himself at him. Kaito stared up at him with rosy cheeks and wet hair, hanging onto to Iruka's waist like a limpet. He announced, "I caught you, Iruka-sensei!"

"You sure did." Iruka rose an eyebrow and grabbed ahold of Kaito, swinging him around until he was hanging upside down in the air, all that held him up Iruka's hands on his ankles. The boy laughed, evidently finding this absolutely hilarious.

Iruka did not understand children.

"Down you go." Iruka said, and dropped the boy from over a meter in the air. Kaito twisted as he had been taught, rolling on the ground in a properly controlled landing.

The boy popped up on the other side with an exaggerated pose, to the cheering of his audience.

Iruka couldn't quite resist laughing, and he shook his head in exasperation. Really, the boy had come so far out of his shell, he seemed to have forgotten such a thing even existed. He also gave him regular heart-attacks, with his utter lack of fear and his determination to be the best possible ninja there had even been, going so far as to perform dangerous tricks all the time, to the laughter of his classmates. It was wonderful to see the kids, even those from different backgrounds, getting along so well, but Iruka thought it would probably give him grey hair by the time he managed to quit at this rate.

Still, they were so adorable and kind, he could never stay mad at them.

"Okay, okay," Iruka called out, getting their attention frighteningly fast. "you all know the way back to the academy from here, right?"

At seeing the many nods, he breathed out in relief and continued, "Then let's all go back now. If you want, you can take this opportunity to practice walking silently."

Again, there were loud cheers and then the kids started running, their footsteps thundering on the ground. When it came to walking, running and generally just moving around without a sound, they still had a lot to learn.

The kids hurried back to the academy to get their things, as they were left behind in classroom before they went on this little excursion. Iruka hadn't wanted to risk their things getting trampled on or destroyed by the water, when most of them didn't have a lot to begin with. Following after them, he made sure all of them went the right way, and observed as they tried to be as silent as possible, sometimes to hilarious degrees.

Some of them were tiptoeing around and walking slowly, as if they were on a tightrope, in order to try to make as little sound as possible. Predictably, it was not going well. Iruka would have to have more lessons on the subject, as it was another thing that had immediately caught the kids attention.

They now thought that in order to be proper shinobi, they had to be able to move without making a single noise.

At least he had managed to avoid any tears from them by assuring them that they had years to master it.

Not many people gave them odd looks as they raced through the village — it was a ninja village — and they made good time back. The kids didn't use the proper entrance to the academy, but climbed over the wall and then rushed into the classroom through the still open windows. Iruka had ceased bothering to close them, when he already knew there was just going to be a lot of begging eyes on the other side that he wouldn't be able to resist.

In the classroom, they grabbed their stuff and congregated into groups, running around each other and laughing as they played some game.

Iruka followed into the classroom after them, settling into his chair behind his desk as they spent several minutes playing — at least, the ones that didn't have to hurry home immediately — before they started to leave, still using the windows as if they were doors. After all of the practice, they had gotten much, much better at it. They had the movement of jumping out the window and landing safely on the other side down to an art form.

With them gone, the classroom was left in eerie silence. As much as he was still panicking every time he had to open his mouth in front of the blackboard, he had gotten used to their presence in the room. It felt a little empty without them.

He sighed, and grabbed the pile of tests they had done first thing in the morning, testing their reading and writing skills. At this point, they had hiragana and katakana memorized and he was wondering when he should start them on kanji. From the tests results, he thought he should probably wait a few more months, make sure that the alphabets they had already learned actually stuck in their heads before he ambushed them with even more.

It didn't take him long to correct all of the tests, as it wasn't a very long or complicated one, and by the time Iruka was done, he stretched his back and cracked his neck, stiff from sitting still. He put the tests into one of the drawers under the desk and rose from his seat with relief. Another day had gone by, and the kids were still alive and in one piece. He counted that as a win.

Hungry after all of that exercise, Iruka left the academy through the proper doors.

He made his way to Ichiraku Ramen, finding himself craving his favorite food.

He yawned as he walked through the streets, covering his mouth as he superstitiously looked around for anything interesting happening. He walked through some side streets, and traveled through the market place, finally arriving at the point where he could smell that tempting scent.

Iruka ducked below the curtain's to the stall and smiled out of reflex when he saw Teuchi-san behind the counter.

"Iruka-kun!" Teuchi-san beamed at him and asked, "Miso ramen again?"

Iruka scratched the back of his neck as he laughed a little stiffly. Apparently he was predictable, which was never a good thing for a shinobi. "Yes, thank you, Teuchi-san."

"No problem, no problem. Sit down!" Teuchi-san moved around the small kitchen and under Iruka's fascinated eyes, made the ramen just the way that he liked it. "Here!" Teach-san set it down in front of Iruka on the counter and beamed at him again.

Smiling, Iruka dug into it immediately, feeling his mouth water at the heavenly smell.

"Thank you!" he said as he picked up the chopsticks.

As he swallowed it down, he found that he was hungrier than he thought, eating the entire bowl in a matter of minutes. As he finished up, he swallowed down the last bit of soup and sighed in satisfaction. Like always, Teuchi was a genius, making it just the that he liked it.

"Another bowl, please!"

Teuchi beamed at him and handed another one over the next second, evidently having expected it. Iruka smiled gratefully at him.

As he finished up with this one and felt his stomach become full, Teuchi asked, "How are your classes going? Any troublesome kids?"

"Nooo." Iruka pushed away the bowl and put his face on his hands, sounding absolutely miserable. "They're amazing, Teuchi-san!'

"Then why do you sound so sad?"

"Because I'm a horrible teacher! I'm going to ruin any chance they have of becoming competent shinobi!" Iruka's head plopped down on the counter with a thud and he groaned in despair. He felt Teuchi pat his shoulder, but still he kept his head down.

"There, there." Teuchi said and insisted, "I'm sure that's just your nerves talking. Don't be so hard on yourself, Iruka-kun."

Iruka smiled at Teuchi without responding.

A hush settled over the stall, before furious mutterings rose around them. Iruka lifted his head and tried to see what the big deal was. There, peeking in around the stalls corner, only his head and adorable bright blue eyes visible, Uzumaki Naruto stared in at them. The boy was tiny (even for his age), with dirt on his cheeks and a curious glow in his eyes.

As Iruka watched, the boy crept in further, until he could see the orange jumpsuit, stained with dirt and dried blood. The boy glared around at everyone that said anything bad about him, and suddenly he was running across the floor on short legs.

He scaled the chair next to Iruka (the only other unoccupied one) like a monkey, swinging himself up until his head stared over the counter.

Iruka felt his heart thudding in his chest, adrenaline coursing through his veins. It was irrational, and it was stupid of him, but he couldn't help but think of the Kyuubi when he saw this tiny boy, who was even younger then his students. He looked innocent and as Teuchi handed over a bowl of ramen without even asking anything, hr beamed like an ordinary child.

But he wasn't. He had the Kyuubi (the beast that killed Iruka's parents) sealed in him.

Iruka was good enough at sealing to know that the boy wasn't the Kyuubi, but it was a small comfort. Because the Kyuubi was an ancient monster made up of pure chakra. How could a little boy ever manage to supress it?

Even as Naruto gulped down his ramen like he was starving, Iruka found himself unconciously leaning away. It wasn't fair to the boy who so clearly was the Yondaime's son, but he couldn't help it. Fear was never rational, never logical. It was never fair.

He saw the moment that Naruot noticied what he was doing, because the boy twitched and curled his arm protectively around his bowl of ramen. As if he was afraird that Iruka would do something to it.

As if Iruka was heartless enough to take it away.

He tried to smile at the boy. From the way the suspicion in those clear eyes only increased, he guessed that he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"Well!" Iruka said and focused all of his attention on Teuchi. "I have papers to grade, so I better get going."

He put down a few bills on the counter without counting them and stood up to leave, as so many others in the stall had already done. He felt a little sick when he realized that he wasn't a good enough person to stay in the presence of someone who was only a young innocent boy.

He should be better than this.

He was a teacher, for heaven's sake.

With self-hatred curling in his stomach, he attempted to smile at Teuchi before he left. The fact that Teuchi looked just as disappointed in him as he himself was only made him feel worse.

A tug on his pants stopped him.

Iruka looked down, his bewildered eyes meeting the Naruto's curious ones.

"You're a teacher? A ninja teacher?"

Naruto sounded inquisitive, as if he had entirely forgotten his earlier suspicion. Iruka found himself staring down at a pair of giant eyes, pleading with him. For what, he didn't know.

"Yes." he said, more harshly than he intended.

The boy's grip on his pants tightened. "Can you teach me a cool ninja move? I want to set things on fire! And walk on walls!"

"I..." he found himself staring at an entirely unsympathetic Teuchi, who pretended that he didn't see anything. Iruka gulped and found himself saying, "I can teach you to walk on walls? If you want?"

"Really? You really, really, really will? You have to promise! You can't go back on a promise! Promise me!" Naruto bounced on his feet, his volume getting louder the more excited he got. Iruka watched as the boy almost jumped up and down in glee, the only thing keeping him from flying off gravity.

He found himself saying, "I promise." before his brain caught up with his mouth.

This time, Naruto actually jumped in joy.

Iruka frowned, but he couldn't get out of it now. He had just promised, and he didn't want to be a person that would break them a minute later for no reason but irrational fear. He was a ninja, he had killed people and ruined their lives. He was no better tahan the Kyuubi.

Yet, there was a part him that wanted to see the boy as a montser, as the demon that had killed his parents. Because it would be easier than accepting the fact that they didn't run.

They had him, a son, and yet they hadn't run. They had stayed and sacrificed their lives, leaving him all alone.

Blaming their deaths on the Kyuubi was easier than blaming it on their loyalty.

"Come, come!" Naruto called as he gripped his hand and started dragging him.

Iruka found himself following entirely on reflex, used to this by now thanks to his class. With Naruto leading the way, they left the legendary ramen stall behind them and ended up back on the streets.

The reaction was immediate.

People whispered and pointed, calling Naruto names a child his age shouldn't know. Yet, Naruto's look of exceitment didn't fade. The only difference was how tight his grip became, as if he was trying to make sure that Iruka didn't run away.

Iruka felt distaste well up in his belly, quickly followed by disgust in himself, because he wasn't any better. Even with the boy's fragile hand in his, he couldn't bear to look at him for too long.

Naruto beamed up at him, utterly oblivious to Iruka's thoughts. "I'll take you to my favorite park!"

Iruka would make him a wall-walking champion. It was the least he could do.

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