Summary: Naruto is no longer a bumbling genin but a bumbling jounin whose hunger isn't only for ramen now his eyes trails the steps of a chuunin, too bad the chuunin is already in a relationship.

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.


Interlude

Burning brown eyes stared into the softest of blue ones as they began to shimmer and widen. "Please Iruka, just another bowl," the blond jounin pleaded and pushed out his bottom lip. He was beginning to contemplate using the dreaded lip quiver to deliver the kill, but the chuunin waved his hand in defeat.

"Yes, yes but last one," the brunet stressed as he waved over the Ichiraku shopkeeper, "Another bowl." Iruka breathed in defeat and leaned in towards Ayame, who was boiling noodles. "If you forget to add any pork or eggs or whatever, fine by me, the brat can just suck down the broth," Iruka joked as the girl snorted through her nose; her round belly shook, heavy with life.

"You're the best, Iruka." Naruto laughed as he poked the man in the arm, enjoying the physical contact.

Iruka wrinkled his nose as he offered his companion a dour look. "Of course I am," the man replied with a cocky grin, and ruffled the jounin's hair, which was not as spiky as when he was child. Now the yellow tresses fell neatly onto his forehead. It was nice change, very mature. "So how are things?" the Academy teacher asked, hoping Naruto knew what he meant; it had been only a week after the announcement of Sasuke and Sakura's engagement.

The man nodded, a small smile on his face. "Good, really, I'm happy for both of them," the jounin responded honestly and blew the bangs from his face. "I stopped crushing on Sakura ages ago, Iruka. Don't get me wrong. There will always be a place for Sakura—for both of them—in my heart, but she loves him... a lot." The fox-faced man grinned and the smile broadened when his fifth bowl of ramen was placed in front of him.

"Why Naruto, I think you're maturing." Iruka teased, patting the blonde on the head. The blonde snorted as he piled noodles into his mouth, and Iruka snorted right back at him as he stole a fishcake from his superior's bowl. "Well now that you are so mature, I hope you'll be treating me next time."

Naruto nodded his head as he began to suction in the food, nearly choking on a boiled egg. "Yeah, yeah, how about tomorrow? We can go for lunch or dinner or both..." The blonde trailed off when he quickly noticed Iruka had turned around in his seat, his whole posture changing and a grin stretching across the man's scarred face. Naruto's shoulders slumped and it felt as if a piece of ice were freezing the pit of his stomach.

It was Kakashi, of course.

It was like a blur, or maybe Naruto had chosen to ignore it all as the Copy Ninja sidled up nice and close to the Academy teacher, or as close he would dare in public that wouldn't incite Iruka's wrath. With quick greetings and even quicker farewells, Iruka left with his lover, leaving Naruto with a free meal and ruffle on his yellow head.

The fox-faced man stared into his empty bowl for a few moments, then stood to leave with a tip of his head to the shop keeper and the soon to be mother, Ayame. He didn't want them to evaluate the frown etched on his face and how the moon illuminated the tiny gleam of red in his eyes.

:p:

He was unsure of when his feelings for Iruka had changed, or perhaps deep down he was never looking for the father Iruka had already become. Mixed between his unrequited love for Sakura and his on-again-off-again brotherly friendship with the Uchiha heir, he had never questioned his feelings for the Dolphin teacher.

But there were times he acted oddly, almost out of his control and not realising his actions till it was too late. Most of these actions were meant to rebuff Kakashi's advances on Iruka. Some worked and many failed. When he was younger he was able to use childish innocence as a weapon when their relationship started. He got between the couple when they wanted to be close: like crowding into Iruka's lap when Kakashi wanted to snuggle, or snagging the teacher's hand before the Copy Ninja could.

Naruto opened his narrowed eyes; his feet had taken him back home to his apartment. Not wasting anymore time the man stumbled into his home and sprawled out on his couch. A memory that tugged at his heart began to surface.

Around the time he was fifteen, or maybe sixteen, his love for the strong and beautiful kunoichi of team seven grew duller and duller and the time spent with Iruka-sensei melted into blissful moments of quickened heartbeats and clumsy accidents. Done with his training for the day he decided to find Iruka and demand a late dinner.

The teacher was cloistered up in his classroom in the Academy; nothing unusual, as Iruka usually worked late on Fridays to lessen his workload on the weekend. What was out of the ordinary was that he wasn't alone. He should have left, he should have turned around and pretended Iruka was waiting for him at Ichiraku with a big smile on his face, but like a curious cat he eyed the narrow crack in the door.

It was Iruka, back sprawled against his desk and divested of his clothing and looking downright fuckable. Kakashi must have thought that too as his hands glided all over the chuunin's body. Naruto recoiled in shock, his heart pounding a mile a minute and his hair damp with sweat as he took off the down the hall, ignoring a tell-tale groan and the thumps of lovemaking.

The man hissed, his hands curling into the cushions of his couch as the image burned itself into his retinas. Naruto got up, shrugging off his vest as headed to his bathroom. Kicking off his pants and wrenching his boxers to his ankles, he sat down on the toilet and grasped his erect cock.

The jounin growled from within his throat, he could see it. Iruka, naked and panting, bent over his desk, papers fluttering to the ground. With his back exposed and his ass hanging from the desk, Naruto, not Kakashi, never Kakashi, would run a nimble finger along the jagged scar that started from between his shoulder blades to his lower back. The scar Iruka had got when he had protected Naruto from the traitor, Mizuki.

"Iru—" the blonde choked as his weeping prick swelled and continued leaking pre-cum. Naruto bit his lip as he imagined rubbing the tip of his cock against the chuunin's entrance. He came hot and fast as he saw himself slamming balls-deep inside the teacher.

Chanting the chuunin's name like a mantra, Naruto relaxed his heated body against the cool surface of the toilet. The jounin struggled to get his breathing intact and shook his head as his leaf headband slipped and covered his left eye.

"Damn." He muttered and stiffened when he heard the faint tapping of messenger bird clacking at his window.

:p:

Naruto took another gulp of his beer and rubbed the hair from his tired blue eyes. He had returned to his lovely village of Konoha from a disaster of a mission. He had returned to nothing but lectures and a suspension from missions, indefinitely, due to... due to. The jounin shook his head his mind was becoming too buzzed to even remember as he took another gulp and finished his glass. He waved over the bartender as a warm and fresh smelling body plopped down beside. Smelt like fresh flowers and the sharp vinegar smell of a hospital.

"Easy, Naruto, that's not ramen, you know." A pretty-looking kunoichi nagged as she ran her hand through pink hair, the engagement ring on her finger glinting in the shady bar.

The blonde grinned as he practically inhaled the liquid to get on the female's bad side... He just loved flirting with instant death. "Sakura-chan, what brings you here?" the fox-faced man asked, patting his friend on the back, but quickly retracting his hand as if burnt. "Don't tell me you've come to lecture me, too." The boy hiccupped as he gave her a narrowed glare.

Sakura lightly bopped him on the head, which caused him to slam his forehead into the bar. "No, you've got enough of that from Tsunade-sama and the Council. I'm here for you to rant at," the kunoichi muttered as she hailed the bartender and grabbed a beer herself.

"Hn, hn, Sakura-chan, you're so nice, why don't you forget about that idiot Sasuke and elope with me?" Naruto laughed, fingering the bruise on his forehead from the hit. The man blinked and his head swerved back and forth. "Where is Sasuke anyway? I haven't seen him since you announced the engagement."

The female jounin shook her head. "I think he was getting annoyed with all the congratulations and the giggling and declared that if he couldn't shut them up permanently then he needed some mission time," the woman muttered, allowing her eyes to stray to her ring.

"Hehe, wish I could have seen his face... But at least I saw him when you proposed, looked like a fish out of water, like a popped puffer fish." Naruto snorted, coughing up his drink as Sakura glared at him, contemplating smacking him in the face.

"At least he has someone, Naruto," the girl began as the man put on a hurt look that quickly slipped off his face; he was too drunk to care. "You know, some of us think your behaviour is due to bottled up sexual frustration... When was the last time you've been in a relationship or on a date?" the pink-haired kunoichi asked as she shifted in her seat. The blonde shrugged. "Hinata is still single, you know."

"I can't go out with Hinata or anyone else for that matter because I like someone!" Naruto crowed, and a little too loudly for the bartenders and the rest of the occupants' taste.

Sakura shot up like a rocket, the inner gossip in her struggling to break free. "Oh, who?" she asked as Inner Sakura began to pump her fists in the air.

Naruto belched and offered his friend a goofy grin as his body wilted. "It doesn't matter, that person is unatten—unattin—I can't get em'. The person, wouldn't even look at me in that way... Besides the person's already in a relationship," the blonde muttered and slumped his head against the bar table for once letting go off his mug.

The kunoichi's brows wrinkled as she took in the fatigued look of her friend. He looked tired and old for his young age. "There's plenty of fish in the sea, Naruto," she teased as she rubbed him on the back, not hearing him mutter

'Dun want fish, want dolphin.'

:p:

Naruto managed to slip away from a drunken Sakura singing show tunes and harassing the regulars to dance for her amusement as he stumbled down the streets of Konoha. The moon lighted his way as he stumbled not toward his home, but toward another's. Coming to a familiar-looking apartment complex, the blonde gathered some rocks and began throwing them at a window that still emitted a faint glow of light from within.

Click!

Click!

Naruto cursed his aim as one rock went sailing over the apartment complex and landed on a bird resting on the roof. The jounin nodded his head; small rocks were not working. He needed bigger rocks, perhaps one the size of his hand. The youth dropped to the ground searching for rocks as the window opened.

"Okay, who's the idio-- Naruto?" a voice questioned as the fox-faced man stumbled up onto his feet to see his first teacher staring down at him with concern. "Naruto. What are you doing down there? Were you the one throwing rocks at my window?" Iruka inquired as he narrowed his eyes at the figure, the only light coming from the lamppost a few meters back.

"Ah, hello Iruka!" the blonde yelled, waving his arm at the chuunin as a few of the rocks spilled from his hand and landed on the ground. The brunet sighed as he quickly teleported beside the jounin; the smoke made Naruto wrinkle his nose, but he nonetheless wrapped his arms around the Academy teacher when he was within range.

"Were you the idiot throwing rocks at my window?" Iruka asked as he rubbed his superior's back and allowed the fool to wrap shaking arms around his neck.

"No." Naruto purred as all the rocks slipped from his grasp and landed on the ground; the largest landed on Iruka's foot.

The chuunin hissed and hopped on his feet awkwardly, jostling the jounin. He looked at the blonde-haired wreck in his arms. "Naruto, you've been drinking." the teacher observed as he sniffed in the alcohol on the blonde's breath. "And they say I can't hold my drink. Well at least you're a nice drunk, Naruto." Iruka laughed since the boy seemed to be trying to worm his way into his clothes.

"Oi, Iruka what's the problem?" a voice called as Kakashi came to the window and kept his eye on the two ninjas. The Copy Ninja did a series of flips to get to the ground level, ignoring Iruka's very audible 'show-off' remark. "Naruto, huh, I should have kno—" the man was interrupted.

"Kakashi," the blonde slurred as he stumbled from Iruka's embrace, pushing the chuunin behind his drunken frame as if to defend him from the forces of evil. "I... I challenge you, Kakashi. I've come to take what's mine!" Naruto bellowed, his voice oscillating as lights from Iruka's apartment complex began to flicker on. "Face me, Kakashi!" The fox-faced man blurted and rushed forward, but only managed to trip over his feet and fall face first onto the ground.

"I didn't see that one coming... Challenging me to a duel, no less." Kakashi muttered as he kicked the jounin lightly in the head. "He's a funnier drunk than you, Iruka, but not as cuddly."

The Academy teacher bent down to help Naruto to his feet and glared at Kakashi, "I am not a cuddly drunk; and besides, Naruto's way more cuddly than I could ever be—he was practically attached to my hip before you showed up." Iruka said, wrapping an arm around Naruto's shoulder.

The silver-haired ninja tilted his head to the side; something wasn't right about what Iruka had said. Something about it didn't agree with him and his chest tightened.

"Iruka!" Naruto squealed as he buried his nose into the chuunin's neck and wrapped his arms around his shoulder.

The chuunin laughed and then grimaced as he felt the jounin's runny nose come in contact with his neck. "I told you he was a cuddly drunk. I guess I should take him home though, he's going to have quite a headache tomorrow." Iruka hefted the boy's arm over his shoulder and turned to face his lover. "Sorry, Kakashi, but I should probably stay the night with him; I don't know how much alcohol he drank."

The Copy Ninja was silent throughout the ordeal and watched again as the boy snuggled into Iruka's neck. 'But he's not a boy anymore, is he?' Kakashi thought as he looked at Naruto's tall frame, which almost reached his own height. The squeezing in Kakashi's chest and the boiling in his gut increased to the point that it felt like he would explode. Stalking over to the two ninjas, he quickly and harshly wrenched Naruto away from Iruka.

"I'll take him home, you go back inside, you have to work at the mission room tomorrow, don't you, and I'm free." Kakashi reasoned as the blonde jounin struggled in his grip; but soon he went quiet.

Before Iruka could even ask if the Copy Ninja was sure, the two jounins were bumbling down the street.

:p:

Kakashi kept his eyes in front of him as the youth in his arms gurgled something and then began to snore, falling into a light doze. He must have been mistaken. Naruto was not attracted to Iruka—the idiot was just drunk and uncoordinated. The Copy Ninja nodded his head; the brat was suffering from many problems, and not just the demon that lived within him. The engagement of his two team-members for one thing, must have set him off. Kakashi felt the pain in his chest decrease. 'Naruto was also just suspend—

The silver-haired jounin's ears twitched as the Uzumaki in his grip seemed to mutter a stream of words under his breath. "Ah... Iru...ka. Iruka," the blonde moaned, wriggling uncomfortably in his former sensei's grasp.

Kakashi felt his stomach grow cold as he eyed Naruto. The fabric of his mask scrunched up to signal a scowl on his face. With a soft growl, Kakashi wrenched the boy forward and slammed him up against the wall of a shop.

The blonde awoke with a jolt and he found himself with Kakashi in a dark and quiet area. His former teacher was staring at him—no, glaring, with the look one might look at a foul-smelling bug, repulsive and easy to get rid of.

"Naruto, I want you to listen to me and listen carefully." Kakashi began.

:p:

Uzumaki Naruto moaned and rolled off his bed in a heap on his messy floor. He was home. 'How did I get here...? Did someone bring me home? I remember the bar and... What happened next?' he thought as he opened, or at least tried to open, his gummed eyes. His head throbbed wretchedly when he finally got his eyes open.

The jounin yipped and jumbled back into bed, grouching over that he still had his vest and ankle straps still on... whoever brought him home must not ha--. Naruto blinked and remembered.

"Naruto, I want you to listen to me and listen carefully." Kakashi began.


Author's Rant: Yeah, the first chapter to my NaruIru multi-chapter story is completed! Before I go on with my rant I would just like to give a very huge thank you to my wonderful beta Alka-Setzer. Now I'm not too sure about this story at least for the beginning, should I rate it T or M, personally I see it as T-rated but with Naruto's little fantasy it may have been bumped up to Mature(I forgot to ask my beta their opinion). This story will be mainly a NaruIru but will have KakaIru and if everything goes according to plan it will end with a NaruIruKaka/KakaIruNaru(a threesome ). Check out my Yakushi Kabuto and Umino Iruka story if you have the time. On a final note this story was inspired from a short web comic I looked at on a Japanese website called Kanon. Thanks for reading my rant.