Summary: Kakashi has actually noticed Iruka for the first time, and Iruka couldn't care less. That is, until Kakashi takes romantic interest in Iruka... And he starts to see what exactly is behind those chocolate eyes.
Meg: Iie! I actually did a good summary for once! Woot! Oh and this started out as pure "Kakashi x Iruka Crack" so if parts of it don't make sense I apologize but it will get better!
Kyu: That's how most of your stories are...
Shi: The dobe's right you know...
Meg & Kyu: HEY!
Shi: *rolls his eyes* ANYWAY do the disclaimer.
Meg: QQ Fine. *sighs* I don't own Naruto as much as I want to.. All the characters belong to Misashi Kishimoto... Except for my OC's that occasionally pop in...
Shi and Kyu: *roll their eyes* Enjoy the story!
A brown-haired, pony-tailed chunin sat in the mission office for one of the first times in a long time. The notorious copy-nin, the one and only Hatake Kakashi, stood gaping like a fish at the first person to ever reject his mission report. Umino Iruka.
"'We got in. We did it. We got out.' Is not a proper mission report, Jonin -san, especially when it is written on a ramen ticket. I'm sorry but you'll have to write a real report." Iruka promptly handed back the offending slip of paper. Ignoring the silver-haired man before him, he called out. "Next!"
"Wait a minute, do you know who I am?" Kakashi blurted out in surprise. He watched as the pony-tailed Chunin blinked, gazed around at the reverent stares aimed towards him as well as the man before him. Those chocolate eyes swirling with what seemed like amusement.
Iruka blinked again before contemplating the man before him. "Hatake Kakashi, graduated at the academy age 5, Chunin at age 6. Ninja registration number is 009720 and you are currently a Jonin however most people suspect at one point you were in ANBU. You are also known as Sharingan Kakashi and the Legendary Copy-nin. It is said you know more than one thousand jutsus. Now please step aside and let me continue my work." Iruka stated simply while staring into the one shocked eye of the Jonin before him.
"Just who in the hell do you think you are?" Kakashi sputtered, completely put off by the man before him.
Iruka smiled sweetly. "I'm Umino Iruka. Every Jonins worst nightmare."
Next to Iruka sat Izumo and Genma, barely holding back their laughter. Across the room Raidou let out an amused chuckle, which quickly turned into a cough as Kakashi whirled on him, glaring.
Iruka leaned forward slowly. "I'll ask once more, Hatake-san, please go fix your report while I do my job."
Kakashi stepped aside, stunned at how he was being treated. Huffing he flopped onto the mission room couch next to Raidou.
"Who in the hell is he?" Kakashi muttered to himself.
"You remember the chunin exams?" Raidou asked and Kakashi nodded in response. "He was the chunin that told you off about entering Naruto."
"Oh… Him… That was 4 years ago though… Naruto is even a jonin now… Oh and how come I've never seen him in the mission room before?"
Raidou chuckled. "Iruka is one of the Hokages favorites. He makes friends with nearly everyone he meets. Tsunade-sama usually keeps him holed up helping Shizune-san and herself."
"Oh…" Was all Kakashi said as he stared at the chunin. Suddenly his line of sight was blocked by a thigh belonging to a certain spikey haired jonin. "What do you want, Kotetsu?"
"Oh… I was just wondering how you're fairing after getting one of Iruka-kuns lectures… First time I got one I promptly pissed myself and hid away for a good week. That man is damned scary."
"Ibiki and I are trying to get him to take up the Hokage's offer of Jonin promotion and trying to get him to join interrogation with us… He would probably be more effective than Ibiki and I combined!" A purple haired Tokubetsu Jonin joined them.
"Anko." Raidou nodded to the woman as Kotetsu huffed at being interrupted. Kakashi blinked at her with his one eye.
"Yo."
And so the discussion about Iruka continued, fueling the fire of Kakashi's curiosity. He paid a particularly detail more thought than others though. 'The hokage herself has offered him the position of Jonin more than once apparently… And I remember his performance during the Shinobi World War… Who is this man?' He thought as he watched the chunin stalk out of the mission room since his shift was over.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Iruka groaned as he stretched up from his chair, glaring at the clock on his kitchen wall. He was due at the academy in less than an hour, but after a fitful night he was undoubtedly going to be in a foul mood, and the children would most likely take the brunt of that. He sighed as he walked out of his apartment, flicking a hand to re-seal the wards he placed to hide his home.
He smiled, albeit a little forced, at everyone who greeted him as he walked to the academy. Shikamaru greeted him at the gate as they walked towards their respective classrooms.
"Iruka-sensei," Shikamaru said slowly. "How in the HELL can you get up so early?"
Iruka chuckled. "I've done it from a young age, Shikamaru. One learns fast what one's body can take in a life filled with missions."
Shikamaru nodded as he branched off into the break room, leaving Iruka to the quiet halls as he continued on is way. Realizing he was going to be showing up after some of his troublemakers, who always somehow managed to show up early on the days he was running late, he prepared himself to dislodge any pranks to come his way. Walking up to his classroom door, he raised his hand, removing the chalk duster. He flicked a chakra string at the bucket trying to top itself on him to lower it to the ground without spilling the sticky green contents, all the while keeping back an attack of feathers thrown in surprise that he avoided the other traps.
Ignoring the reverent looks from his students, he called out the one responsible. "Yukio, if you're really going to pull pranks on me, or at least try, then you must know that I myself used to mess around in class at the academy, and I myself was a fairly decent prankster. You'll have to learn better tricks from Naruto if you really want to catch me by surprise."
"It still surprises me that he was able to catch me off guard like that." Iruka muttered to himself. "Anyway!" He continued brightly. "Today we're going to be learning about chakra control!"
"First, can someone remind the class what chakra actual—" Iruka cut himself off as a puff of smoke appeared in his classroom. A certain silver haired Jonin from the mission stood smiling at him. Handing a paper to Iruka he grinned.
"My mission report, Iruka-sensei." He deliberately put a mocking tone on the honorific.
"Ahh Hatake-san. SO glad of you to interrupt my class when you very well know this should go to the mission room. So I'll kindly leave you to do such."
"Oh-ho but I wanted to make sure it was up to YOUR standards, Iruka-sensei." Kakashi grinned at him, watching the emotions on the man change from docile annoyance into full blown anger.
"I'll ask you not to interrupt my class, Hatake-san, please leave before I deal with you as I do all trouble makers in my classroom." There was a collective gasp from his classroom.
"Iruka-sensei! But that's the Copy-nin!" A blonde girl with green eyes stood up with concern.
"Ahh yes, Mikosa-chan." Iruka gave a sinister smile in Kakashi's direction. "But you see, I am the master in my own classroom. He has until I count to 5 to leave or he will receive the usual punishment for such disobedience."
Kakashi snorted. "As if a chunin-sensei could lay a hand on me. I'd like to see you try, Sensei."
Oh if looks could kill, Kakashi would be six feet under from the glare he received at that moment from Iruka. "Oh trust me, Jonin-san. There are reasons I'm a sensei and those are not your business. But I am not some docile creature that you can trample on my territory so easily." Iruka gave a sickly sweet smile after that, the whole of the class ducked under their desks and peeked reverently at their sensei.
Faster than Kakashi could blink Iruka was behind him, Kakashi whirled and leapt back, right into Irukas desk. Grinning like the cat that caught the canary Iruka flipped up at Kakashi, curling just over head, and as Kakashi ducked Iruka jabbed 2 fingers into the pressure point that would knock Kakashi out. Iruka smiled at his gaping class as he landed soundly on his desk in a crouch.
"And that, my students, is why you never piss off a teacher on his own turf." Iruka slid off his desk and pulled Kakashi to the back of the classroom.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Kakashi awoke with a splitting headache that wouldn't allow him much more thought than that required to make it look like he was still unconscious. As soon as the headache subsided a little bit, Kakashi tried to remember exactly what he had been doing just before he was knocked out. Sudden realization dawned on him. 'I was in a fight with Iruka…' He thought to himself, 'Shimatta how in the hell did he knock me out so easily.'
Kakashi paid close attention to the whispers around him. Judging from the tone of the voices and how childish they were, he was still in Iruka's classroom.
"Do you think he'll be mad at us?" One child whispered.
"Iruka-sensei won't let him hurt us if he was! After all, if he's mad, it IS Iruka-sensei's fault." Another responded.
The whispers got cut short as he heard a light, rich chuckle. As he wondered who could have made such a sound he felt his chin tilted up.
"Ahh Kakashi-sensei you can stop pretending now I believe." Iruka chuckled. It was then Kakashi realized that Iruka had been who laughed before. 'He really does have a nice laugh,' Kakashi thought as he gazed up into Iruka's chocolate brown eyes. Suddenly he jerked his head away, cursing himself for thinking that way about the man who had just managed to knock him out and had done Kami knows what to him while he was out.
Suddenly the door slammed open revealing a very pissed off Tsunade. "Iruka!" She barked. "For what reason exactly did you have in mind calling me down here out of an important meeting?" She glared at the chunin but Iruka could tell it was forced. Kakashi couldn't see Tsunade or talk due to a chakra seal over his mouth and the students and sensei blocking him from sight.
"You know you wanted a reason to be out of that tower so quit putting on a show in front of the students!" Iruka huffed. "Besides! There was a masked menace threatening my classroom!" There was a collective, questioning 'Hn' from around the room, from students and Tsunade alike. Smirking at Tsunade, Iruka stepped aside revealing a trussed up Kakashi.
"You should try to work some manners into this particular Jonin, Baa-chan."
"What did you do to the poor man, Iruka? And only Naruto is supposed to call me that…" Tsunade visibly slumped. "I can't take another Jonin off active duty just because he did something to annoy you."
"He was interrupting my class, which takes valuable time away from me training your next generation of Jonin's!" Iruka huffed and straightened. "Besides, I didn't do anything Naruto wouldn't do."
Tsunade groaned. "That's not much to go on Iruka, not to mention you TAUGHT Naruto everything he knows. Yes he told me about your little lessons!"
Blinking Iruka attempted to look innocent. "I did no such thing! Anyway, would you mind keeping the menace away from my classroom… And he could learn a thing or two about turning in mission reports… By the way you might want this." Iruka handed Tsunade Kakashi's mission report with a smirk.
Tsunade sighed, this time she looked at Kakashi with something akin to sympathy. "Look what you've gotten yourself into brat." Was all she said as she hoisted him over her shoulder.
Kakashi glared daggers at Iruka as he turned away and settled his class to continue teaching, annoyed to no end by the smirk he received in return.
"Kitsune, Ryuken!" Tsunade barked out as she stepped out of the academy doors. Two ANBU's landed silently before her.
"Hai, Tsunade-sama!" They both replied, straightening.
"Tend to Kakashi while I go back to the meeting, its Iruka's seals so be careful, there are bound to be some tricks somewhere in that mess."
Both ANBU's nodded while groaning and helped Kakashi to his feet. The ANBU in the mask with rounded ears and twin red, vertical fang marks on the cheeks, as well as one down the nose, rose and started tracing the seal over Kakashi's mouth quickly.
"Release!" He muttered and then suddenly Kakashi found that he could talk again.
"Who is who?" Was the first thing he said.
"I'm Kitsune." The second ANBU said. His mask had pointed ears, looking much like a fox, considering its owners namesake. It had 3 whisker-like orange marks and a swirl on its forehead. Kakashi looked over into two bright blue eyes, recognition dawning on his face. He glanced over and saw the one called Ryuken slump.
"Tsunade-sama couldn't have picked more obvious names for us, ne, Kitsune-san?" He muttered.
"Iie, I know," Kitsune muttered. "It doesn't help that Kakashi is a genius."
Ryuken sighed. "Hatake Kakashi, do you solemnly swear to uphold this confidence unto the day you die?" He stated the chakra and soul binding oath with what seemed like practiced articulation.
"I swear." Kakashi said slowly. He watched the ANBU Kitsune form a few quick hand-signs and created barrier around them.
"This will make it seem like we still have our masks on to anyone outside of our little group." Ryuken explained as they both took off their masks.
"Uzumaki Naruto, also known as Kitsune, head of the ANBU Black-Ops sealing division. I'm also a part of the main division, directly under both Black-Ops sub-captain Ookami-san and head of the Black-Ops division Tourou-san." Naruto looked at the man next to him, who had yet to reveal himself.
"Inuzuka Kiba, also known as Ryuken, head of the ANBU Black-Ops tracker division. I am a part of the main division, under Kitsune-san, Black-Ops sub-captain Ookami-san and the head of the Black-Ops division Tourou-san." Kiba stated as he pulled off the mask.
Kakashi gaped at the boys standing before him, one having been his own student.
"Naruto?" The question of the barrier was unspoken but Naruto picked up on it none the less.
"Kotetsu." The 17 year old stated as he grinned impishly. "He started me on wanting to learn about seals when he saw me looking through the Uzumaki clan information as well as the Yondaime's. Both my parents were experts at sealing, and mastered a lot of Ninjutsu, he told me that I should learn about barriers too, since they come in handy when sealing. Kiba here is learning really quickly from what I've seen though."
Kiba blushed a little bit. "I could always use practice, but I guess I didn't make ANBU for nothing, ne?"
"I could too, but at least we got partnered together!" Naruto said smiling, Kakashi then realized just how much the boy had matured since he had been in Team 7 under Kakashi. Another realization suddenly hit, that the members of Team 7 were the second Sannin of the Leaf.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba, do you solemnly swear to uphold this confidence unto the day you die?" Kakashi startled both boys out of their musings.
"I swear." They said hesitantly in unison.
"I am ANBU Black-Ops operative Ookami. Black-ops sub captain under Black-Ops Captain Tourou, head of ANBU for the last 10 years. I have been his subordinate for 8 of those years."
Gaping at Kakashi, Naruto was the first to recover.
"Karasu-san and Suwan-san don't know what they're missing! The moment they heard it was Kakashi into it with Iruka-sensei they fled the scene. They somehow could sense it was you that was hidden behind Iruka and the students." Kiba grinned in response.
"Maa I'm not so bad." Kakashi fidgeted as Naruto continued carefully undoing the seals Iruka made. "Then again… You both know how cruel I can be on ANBU missions… They haven't had the pleasure."
"Just don't let them find out who you are, and you don't try and find out who they are. I'm going to get in enough trouble when Baa-chan finds out what we did." Naruto stated quietly as he finished undoing the last seal. "There we go, by the way, I suggest you don't bother Iruka… For him to put THOSE seals on you… Sheesh, I don't even want to KNOW what you did. I'm the head of the sealing-division and even I have a hard time with this."
Kakashi stumbled upon hearing that. He had thought that by being the head of the sealing division, Naruto wouldn't be bested by anyone other than Tourou-san at sealing. Apparently the Chunin had far more skill than he ever cared to show anyone except his students, who never seemed to push him to do anything else. It must be because he has such a way with children that they don't want to lose him, since he was undoubtedly the best teacher the Academy has ever had.
Both boys put on their masks again, and almost as soon as they were in place the personas of Kitsune and Ryuken took over those of Naruto and Kiba. Kitsune released the barrier as Ryuken checked over that no traces of Iruka's chakra remained clinging to Kakashi.
"We were informed that we are to make sure you return to your home with minimal inuuries. Iruka isn't one to let a slight on his skills go freely. You'll have to watch your back for a while from his pranks." Ryuken said slowly.
"Yea, he taught Naruto everything he knows… So basically imagine The worst of Naruto's pranks—"
"That's not so bad." Kakashi cut him off.
"— A hundred times worse." Kitsune finished with a chuckle. Kakashi merely raised an eyebrow.
"You remember that incident with the Sandaime about 15 years ago? I mean I was only 2, so I only heard the stories from Genma and Kotetsu in the Jonin Lounge, but still. You know, the one where the whole Hokage Mansion was tee-peed with a Jutsu that wouldn't wear off for a month? And the insides had nude pictures up everywhere, again that didn't wear off for a month?" Ryuken said slowly.
Kakashi nodded. "That couldn't have been Iruka, he couldn't have been the one who got past the ANBU on duty that day… He would have only been 12… Let alone do it so quickly."
Kitsune chuckled again, but this time it was Naruto's chuckle instead of the cold ANBU style chuckle. "No… That was Iruka. When he was teaching Naruto that was one of his greatest stories, but the one that the Sandaime could never really place on him. The only thing keeping him from redoing it with nude men is because he knows Tsunade-sama and Shizune-sempai would know it was him and pummel him into the floor."
Kakashi only grunted in response, he didn't think he could really formulate a response. 'The great copy-nin at a loss for words… I thought I'd never see the day,' Kakashi thought to himself, 'Just who are you, Umino Iruka?'
A/N: Thanks for whoever is going to read this! I'll be trying to upload weekly, I'll probably get in maybe 2 more chapters by the time school starts next week, oh and updates may not be regular. Remember the 3 R's! Read, Rate, Review!
Oh and reviews are to authors as food is to a starving man... You know, a nessecity ^.^