Chapter Seven


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"Hatake Kakashi?" Iruka knew he was blushing, but he refused to look down or show any other sign of embarrassment.

"The Hatake clan took a blood oath to defend Konohagure. That is one of the things that makes the brat such a valuable resource. Of course, his Sharingan eye and ability to copy jutsu just make him that much more in demand." Tsunade tipped more sake into her cup and pulled a second cup from her desk drawer and offered him the cup and bottle. "Have a drink. You're almost the color of this paper work."

Iruka obeyed, numb until the burn of the strong drink hit his throat. "And he's the last of the Hatake clan."

Tsunade nodded. "Sakumo wouldn't have willingly gone to another woman's bed after Kakashi's mother died. There are no others outside the walls of Konoha. So that blood oath fell directly to him when his father… died."

"And if he were to d-die, there would no longer be anyone with his Bloodline limit bound to the village."

The Hokage rose and paced to the window that overlooked the monument. "It's not a choice I'm comfortable with. They're demanding that I either order him to father a child or take a sample and impregnate someone without his knowledge. Either choice is one I do not wish to make." She glanced back at Iruka. "And this must be quite hard for you to hear, I imagine."

Iruka yipped, an uncomfortable sound he couldn't stop. "B-beg pardon?"

A slow smile spread across her youthful face. "I may have some of the worst gambling luck, but even I wouldn't be fool enough to bet that you didn't like him. I've seen you in the mission room. You blush whenever he hands in his report to you. Your eyes follow him around the room. You worry when he comes in injured…" She grinned at him. "Shall I go on?"

Iruka looked away, cheeks burning. "N-no, that's enough."

Tsunade returned to her seat. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, Iruka-sensei. Unlike what some of the more uptight people think, it is natural. Do you know the wolves that call the forest at the top of the monument their territory? When I was just a genin, I would watch them for hours, wishing I could be as free as they were. There was a pair of them, a small gray male and a bigger night-black male that were paired off. They acted like a mated couple." Tsunade's gaze was distant. "I think I envied them that closeness."

"I never knew anything like that."

"It's not common, because it could hurt the population, but it does happen. And it benefits the pack, in a way. Those two hunt together well and they can be relied on to defend the pack's cubs as if they were their own."

"It's not like it doesn't happen among my shinobi, either." She grinned again. "Remind me to tell you about some of the trouble Genma has gotten into. Did you know, after a night of drinking once, he wound up tied naked to Anko's bed?"

"Should I be surprised? Anko likes to play rough, or so I've heard."

"Oh, but that's not the best part. Ebisu was sleeping on top of him; also as naked as the day he was born. Gai was asleep at the foot of the bed, wearing only his legwarmers."

Iruka couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. "Where was Anko during all this?"

"She woke up in the caves at the Hokage monument, naked except for a pair of thigh-high boots and a whip. Someone had very considerately covered her with their black leather trench-coat."

Iruka snorted, knowing that there were only about three ninjas in the entire village who wore black leather trench-coats.

While he was still chuckling, Tsunade sipped at her cup and leaned back in her seat.

"I understand the elder's desire for someone of Hatake blood, but I don't want to inflict this on him… Hell, for that matter, on the poor unsuspecting woman who'd be forced to raise such a hellion."

They sat there for a moment in silence, Iruka staring at the monument and remembering his own hellion, the orphaned fox-boy who had wormed his way into his heart. The paint was long gone now, as was Naruto, but he remembered Naruto painting the faces of the monument. It brought a sad, wistful smile to his face.

Sandaime's stone visage stared back at him, reminding him of happier times. Like the time the old man had taken a heartsick, lonely child into his arms and soothed the hurt of a hundred taunting voices and eased the crippling pressure of loneliness. Or the time a determined child had slipped into the tower, past ANBU and ninja alike to sneak into the room behind Sandaime's office where any number of forbidden jutsu's and scrolls deemed too dangerous were housed. He had been determined to prove to his new father-figure that he was as good a ninja as any other. Sandaime had found him there in the hidden room, sleeping amid the scrolls, and knowing that Iruka's near-photographic memory would never forget what he had read that night.

Sandaime had been the one to forbid Iruka from using anything he had learned there unless it were in service to his Hokage. Sandaime had also been the one to determine that Iruka would never rise above the rank of chuunin and why, instead assigning him to work at the academy when his training and mandatory mission quota had been completed. He had explained, unsmiling, that there was a reason that some things were deemed forbidden, and that there was some knowledge too valuable to be allowed to fall into enemy hands.

Slowly he turned his head to regard the Hokage, lost in quiet contemplation. "Hokage-sama," he said at last. "I might have a solution…"

She turned to face him as he continued. "It gets the council what they want; it keeps you from having to order him to do something like that and…" His voice trailed off.


//Present//


"Of course, I thought you had lost your mind." Iruka and Ibiki both looked up as Tsunade opened the door to Ibiki's office, dressed in a sweeping blue robe. A pair of ANBU took up stations outside the door as she closed it behind her. Her unbound hair hung loosely around her face and there were dark shadows under her eyes.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping, Hokage-sama?" Ibiki asked, his usually gruff voice softened

She rolled her eyes at him. "I should be. But in addition to the usual paper-pushing and bureaucratic bullcrap, I had a jounin try and kill a chuunin in the middle of the street today. There was a lot of talk to be dealt with."

Iruka flushed.

"By the way, Ibiki, schedule a psychological evaluation for the brat. His actions today had a lot of shinobi thinking he was going to break right there in a public street. I want them reassured." Tsunade sat down and swiped Ibiki's coffee mug. She tipped the contents of a small silver flask into the coffee and took a sip, settling back in the chair and staring at Iruka. "With what you asked me to do, I thought you were breaking… either that, or utterly insane."


//Flashback//

Tsunade stared at the chuunin in disbelief as he finished explaining his plan to her. "Are you mad?"

Iruka shook his head. "It gives everyone what they want without the entanglements."

"What about you?"

Iruka chuckled softly. "It's not what I could wish for, but considering the circumstances, it's the best I can hope for. I want this, Tsunade-sama." His gaze was steady and uncompromising.

"We're talking at least a year away from the village, Iruka-sensei. Probably longer before you're able to travel safely."

Iruka nodded. "I understand and I know the risks."

"Do you really?"

"With Naruto being… well, Naruto… I kind of studied up on the subject. I know what could happen." He blushed and scratched the scar on the bridge of his nose.

"I don't want to endanger your life." Tsunade shook her head. "From all reports, you're one of the best teachers Konoha has. There has to be some other way."

"Not one that doesn't cause more complications. You know that as well as I do."

Tsunade knew that he could tell by her expression she hated the very thought even though she understood the necessity. "I… could send someone with you. Sakura-chan, perhaps."

Red stained his cheeks. "No! I mean… I'd rather no one but you know the truth."

Tsunade resisted the urge to laugh at his mortification by the simple expedient of remembering that this could backfire horribly and cost her the life of one of Konoha's finest teachers. "Do you understand what I would have to do to accomplish this, Iruka-sensei? Exactly what I would have to do?" Silently, she hoped he didn't. It would make thing so much easier. "There would be no room for mistakes if I didn't, and the chances of a mistake would increase greatly as time passed."

Her faint hope crumbled as Iruka met her eyes steadily, one corner of his mouth curling up in a humorless smile. "You would have to seal me," he recited carefully. "I would be locked that way until you remove the seal."

Tsunade bit her lip in anguish. "More than that, I'm afraid," she said grimly. "For this to have any chance of working at all, let alone working properly, I would have to not only seal you into that jutsu, but seal your chakra as well. Maintaining the jutsu on a conscious level would burn up your chakra faster than you can replenish it. To do this, I would have to create an endless loop into the seal that would drain your chakra into maintaining the jutsu rather than you controlling the flow of your chakra. To do this would mean you would have no more chakra control than a civilian!"

She finished rather breathlessly, hoping he would see the error of his intentions.

"I do understand and I will go through with it, Hokage-sama."

Hopes dashed, Tsunade slumped. "Just – just tell me why?" Far from being the leader of the village, she felt like that long-ago genin again, pleading to understand.

"Because I have to."

She growled under her breath. "You… are an idiot. On your head be it."

She thought he would flinch away from her anger, but he was made of sterner stuff. His brown eyes sparkled with gratitude and something she could put no name to. He bowed deeply. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama. Thank you so much." His quicksilver grin eased her mind, if only a little bit.

Tsunade softened. "If it means so much to you to be the one to do this. But you're still an idiot," she added firmly.

"I know."