Fugaku Uchiha was a fifty years old man who had a dream to own his own company one day. He started small, working as an errand boy as a part time job in the company that his best friend's father owned. He was about fifteen-years-old, back then, and the $5.50 an hour pay wasn't half bad either. When he turned seventeen he met his wife, Mikoto, when he began answering the phone for his boss. Then when he turned twenty-two he was appointed senior vice president, and then at twenty-seven, he became the CEO of the company that his best friend's father owned. Now at fifty, he was ready to retire and hand his company down to his first born son, Itachi Uchiha.

Fugaku had his hands folded across his face, a stern look on his face, and was looking his 25 year old son right in the eye. Itachi looked at his father with a bored look on his face. He really didn't want to be here, in all honesty, he'd rather be in the kitchen with his mother and help her figure out what was for dinner instead of sitting with his father right now. Shows how much he loves his father. "Itachi, you know what you must do, don't you?" Fugaku said, in his deep rough voice. Itachi was quiet for a few moments, he knew the answer, but he refused to voice it. Fugaku sighed, then leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his black and, slightly grey at the roots, hair.

"Itachi…I am old. I am fifty-six years old, and I'm done with this company." He kicked off his shoes and put his feet up on the desk. "I honestly cannot keep up with this place. Now I know you don't want to do this, but Sasuke is still in college. He can't possible juggle the family company and his school work together. It'd be too much stress for him, and he'd be growing premature grey hair at the age of twenty-one." He stopped and took a breath. He needed a drink, and it was only 1:15 in the afternoon. This company already made him pick up smoking, but drinking as well? Oh he definitely had to go. He looked at his son, and was somewhat happy that Itachi showed a look of understanding in his features.

"I understand father, you are…old, if I do say so myself." His father chuckled, Itachi would have laughed right along with him if it weren't for the fact that he didn't want to be here. "But…I don't think I could keep the company stable. Father, I'm an eighth grade English teacher, what do I know about business, trade, and financing?" Itachi had a point, English literature and financing were two totally different fields, and there was no way Itachi was going to go back to college to get a masters in that. He chose to become a teacher for a reason, to work with the next generation of children, and to steer clear away from what his father (and family) wanted him to be.

Fugaku sighed as he dug through his desk and got out his pack of cigarettes. Itachi looked at the pack of cancer sticks with disgust. If this company made his father pick up such an awful habit, then the company can fuck itself. There's no way he'd pick up smoking, ever. Itachi watched his father blow out a stream of the grey toxins, then waved his hand around his face. It was supposed to make his father stop when in front of him, but all Fugaku did was turn around in his chair and look out the giant window that was stationed behind his desk. "Itachi…please…I need to stop this. I'm fifty-six, almost fifty-seven in a few weeks. All I ask of you is to take over until Sasuke is out of college and has his life planned out for him."

Itachi considered this. All he had to do was work as CEO until Sasuke was eligible to take over the position. He sighed, not really wanting to work for his father's company whatsoever. He preferred working with hormonal pre teenagers than with stingy adults. Itachi slumped in his chair, his elbows on his knees, and then rubbed his forehead. He'd have to quit his job, and leave his kids. He had made some sort of connection with his kids…he'd miss their promotion to the 9th grade…he'd miss them. His class or his father…this was such a hard choice to make.

Fugaku put out his cigarette, then looked back at Itachi. He sighed, figuring that this would be a hard decision for Itachi to make. "Look, I'll give you two weeks to…say goodbye to your students, but please Itachi, I'm ready to retire." Itachi looked up at his father, glaring at him, then got up and left the office in a huff. Fugaku felt as if a part of him left that office along with his son, and not in the festive way he was going to be doing in two weeks time. 1:25...he needed a drink.

The bell rang, which indicated that the students should be in their classes at the moment, and if they're still mingling in the hallway, they should report to the cafeteria for a late pass. Itachi watched his class talk amongst themselves from his desk in the front of the class. He'd miss them, all of them, even the trouble makers. He got up out of his seat, then took an empty desk and pulled it out of one of the rows of desks. He sat on top of it. "Settle down class, I need to shed some information for you all." The class, with a few last hushed words going about, did as he said, and settled down. Itachi opened his mouth, then began to speak "I will be leaving in two weeks, and I won't be coming back." A few hands shot up "Please hold your questions until the end." The hands went back down

"My father, he's retiring from the family company, and he needs someone to pick up after him so that it will continue to stay stable."

"Your old man can't get your brother to fill in for him?" One of the troublemakers yelled. A few of the other student agreed with him, seeing as how Itachi has a brother (he told the class about him on the second day of school) it only seemed fair that Sasuke should take over since Itachi already has a career.

"People please! I know you all have a lot of questions but I need to finish what I have to say. Remember in class room discussions? We have to wait for one person to finish in order for someone else to begin." The class became quiet again, and they all looked at Itachi with the utmost attention. "My younger brother is still in college, there's no possible way he could keep up with college and be a CEO of a company, it's just simply too much." He looked over most of the class, the troublemakers, all in a group, were conversing quietly to themselves, while the others still had their attention glued to him.

"Please try to understand, I'm not doing this because I want to, I honestly don't want to, but I have to. My father is fifty-six, almost fifty-seven, and he's ready to retire. I have to take over for him."

"That is so bull shit! I don't want a new teacher Itachi-sensei, We don't want a new teacher!" One of the trouble makers yelled. "That's so bullshit! So what about us, what about your students!? Didn't your old man even once think about us!?"

"Naruto, control yourself!" Itachi was appalled that Naruto would ever dare to swear in his class, he had a strict 'No cursing' rule in his classroom. He deemed it unnecessary to have to say a curse word in order to get your point across. "And watch your language when in this room, you know of the strict-"

"Bump that shit! I'm pissed, your father is being a jerk! What about us, the 'future generation' as you call us! You're supposed to take care of us, how're we supposed to-"

"Naruto Uzumaki, control yourself or leave the classroom!" Itachi honestly didn't want to kick Naruto out, he was a good kid with good intentions. Itachi knew how much he meant to Naruto, he was like an older brother figure for him since Naruto honestly doesn't have any siblings, and was a foster care child so he didn't have biological parents either.

Naruto sat in his seat obediently, eyes filled to the brim with angry tears. One of his friends tried to comfort him, but it was denied. Naruto gave Itachi his undivided attention, just like the rest of the class before the outburst. "This is going to be a tough transition, especially since it's so close to the end of the year and you all will be in high school very soon. I know it seems unfair, but I will do my best to prepare you for high school with the two weeks I have left here. And the day I leave, I'll have something nice prepared for you all." Some hands shot up, and Itachi gladly began answering questions.

"Itachi-sensei, why can't your mother fill in for you?"

"Because she has her own business going on. She's a cosmetologist, and she's about to retire herself since she's fifty-two."

Another hand. "Itachi-sensei, what're you going to be doing for us the day you have to go?"

"It's a secret, I can't tell you." The class erupted in full blown conversation, telling each other about what they think Itachi will bring in, a movie and snacks some kids said, a party others put in, a free day out in the field a few others said. Naruto's hand shot up. Itachi was a bit hesitant calling on him, but he did so anyway.

"Itachi, can you bring your brother in? I wanna meet him." The rest of the class immediately agreed with him. Meeting the legendary Sasuke Uchiha would be a wonderful treat. They had heard so much about him from Itachi, meeting him would be a memorable experience that the kids would treasure, until they get to high school of course. Itachi chuckled, seeing how Naruto finally got his usual loud self back together. Itachi shrugged

"I could bring him with me, but that doesn't mean he'll converse with you all. Sasuke is very anti-social and-"

"I don't care if he's anti-social, schizophrenic, bi-polar, whatever! I wanna meet him!" Itachi was amazed that Naruto even knew the word Schizophrenic, but he decided not to dwell on it for too long.

"Naruto, It's up to Sasuke after all, you can't force him to come in and expect him to make nice with you all. Sasuke's much more complex than that." Naruto slammed his hand on the desk, then put his feet up on the desk, folding his arms as he did so. Itachi chuckled at Naruto's small temper tantrum, then called on another student.

At the end of the (long) day, Itachi was picking up papers from off his student's desks, sighing as he looked at Naruto's paper. Itachi made an assignment due at the end of the day; make a three paged short story and have it consist of one of the elements of gothic fiction. Everything was grammatically correct, his sentence structure was superb, and the creation of characters were made wonderfully. But it didn't consist of any elements concerning to gothic fiction. Therefore, Itachi had to give him a zero. He shook his head, Naruto had so much potential, but he always made stupid mistakes. But this one seemed to be something that he did on purpose rather than a stupid mistake that he normally has when he writes his short stories.

There was a knock on the door. Itachi went over to go open it, and saw Naruto standing out in the hallway with a sullen look on his face. He ushered Naruto inside, then sat him down at his desk. It was quiet for a few minutes. Naruto looked up with tears in his eyes that were threatening to spill. Itachi didn't really know what to do at the moment, he couldn't really comfort students since it was against the law for him to have a friendship like connection with his students. Anything passed that he could go to jail for. A chocked sob. Naruto began crying, laying his head on his desk, crying his eyes out. This was just as much taking a toll on Naruto as it was for Itachi. Itachi put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, rubbing in circular motions.

"Itachi…" Naruto said in between sobs "I don't want you to leave…" He looked up and showed Itachi his tear stained face. Itachi was the closest thing to a brother that Naruto ever had. It was already hard on him knowing that Itachi already had a younger brother, but leaving Naruto was something that would just destroy the child. He'd most likely drop out of school and never amount to anything in the world. This was killing Itachi, there was no way he'd leave Naruto in the hands of some stranger who would most likely misunderstand and not even bother to get to know him.

"Naruto…I don't want to leave, but I have to. I promise you, I'll keep in contact with you after I leave." Naruto sniffed then wiped his eyes.

"I missed my bus…can you take me home?" Naruto got up out his chair, still wiping tears out of his eyes.

Itachi smiled, "Of course I will."