Act of Mercy: Chapter Eleven

Visiting the Academy was something that every Hokage did at some point. It wasn't a case of grand standing, or a tradition built on the desire to get future shinobi to view their Hokage with awe. No, the tradition had far more practical reasons. Get your future shinobi to know who you are. Give them a person worth fighting for. Make sure that you know who they are. Thus, while the initial reason looked like ego stroking, it was something that had sound reasoning behind it and a military application.

He was finding reasons to fear the practice though.

After all, outside the Academy he had learned how to dodge anything that seemed too much like an adoring fan. Here, he was putting himself in their path. It seemed, to him, as though it was an act of masochism. He liked children, he did, but he would be very relieved when he got to his brother's class. They should be calmer than the younger students, right?

That thought carried him through the day, really, and since he'd decided he wanted to spend a bit more time with his brother's class due to the heavy political leanings of all the clan heirs, he even stopped in on the one older class that was due to graduate at the end of term. They, thankfully, bore out his hypothesis that older was calmer, and it was with a relaxed mind that he approached his brother's, and former teammate's, class.

Upon opening the door he wondered if he had stepped into the wrong place.

Iruka was, with all the stern command that Itachi had learned to appreciate as a seven year old, bearing down on a trio of boys to one side of the room as Naruto, and this was far from shocking, was being hauled along by his collar behind the man. Across the room and toward the back, away from the windows the boys seemed to have snuck into, was his brother, who was being seemingly assaulted by a pair of girls that he knew the boy wasn't dating. One of them even looked to be a Yamanaka, which, all on its own, made him feel sorry for his sibling.

Still, his presence was noted by those not involved in the chaos, and a rash of whispers rippled out across the room, bringing quiet along behind them.

Well. It was quiet until Naruto looked over to see what the commotion was about. "Zombie-nii! Hey hey, did you come to visit me and the teme?"

The reaction was instantaneous and, he will admit, somewhat hilarious. Iruka spun in place, eyes wide and startled, with a "Hokage-sama!" at the same time Sasuke practically leaped over his desk to escape his paramours with an utterly relieved cry of "Aniki!"

Clearly, his brother had beem desperately praying for a rescue, as the boy skidded to a stop right in front of him, staring up at him with slowly growing perplexity. "...Wait, why are you here?"

If anything, the three boys that Iruka had been lecturing looked more chagrinned, using the man's inattention to try to escape to their seats. "He's here because he told me he was going to talk to you all today. Which is why I am most unhappy with you four for skipping the morning session! You could have missed him entirely!"

As the other three wilted slightly, Naruto just rolled his eyes. "Big deal, it's not like I don't see him all the time. Zombie-nii and me don't need to be introduced."

For once, it wasn't Sasuke who rebuked him. "Don't call him that!" A thump on the head followed as the boy's collar was released. "Respect the Hokage! Now go sit down. Sasuke, you too."

Itachi shook his head, giving Iruka a highly amused look for the fact that he of all people was trying to enforce respect for his title. Perhaps he simply meant in public? Repressing his urge to laugh, he looked over all the students. "It's fine Iruka-san, I came to see everyone in their natural habitat, so to speak, not to give a lecture. After all, they should know that discipline is part of being a good shinobi by now, and that the life they're stepping into isn't always going to be fun nor glorious. There is nothing I can tell them that you haven't already, and it would hold no more importance simply because I was the one saying it."

There was a moment of silence in the wake of his words before whispers broke out with renewed fervor around the room. He took the opportunity to let his eyes drift back down to his sibling, who he was surprised to note looked decidedly torn between the options of retreating to his seat and hiding behind him. A quick glance told him the cause of his distress, as the two girls from earlier had, after a quick few glances between each other and the brothers, decided to come over to where the siblings were standing.

The pink haired girl reached them first, giving a quick half bow to him before looking speculatively from one to the other. "Hokage-sama! My name is Haruno Sakura and I am very honored that you came to talk to us today."

The way his brother tensed promised him that this would be amusing. "It's a pleasure, I assure you."

The blond joined them a beat later with a nod to him and a swift 'Hokage-sama' before she turned on Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun, you didn't have to jump out of your seat like that you know, I could have gotten up."

Sakura leaned to the side with a whisper that was perhaps a bit too loud to actually be intended to be secretive. "Ino-pig! Don't just ignore the Hokage!"

Ino's tone was at about the same level, and she peeked sideways at the Hokage in question. "Shut it forehead, I'm talking to Sasuke-kun. I didn't ignore the Hokage anyway, I greeted him first."

"You didn't introduce yourself!"

"He probably knows who I am without me needing to!"

Both girls halted their arguing to watch, one amused, the other confused, as Sasuke took this chance to edge around behind his sibling. The blond was the one who resumed the argument.

"Now look what you did!"

"I didn't do anything!"

Itachi turned the girls out for a moment, turning his head to look back at his sibling with highly amused eyes. "Why did you never mention this little problem of yours?"

"Oh please, what was I going to say? 'Aniki, help, there's a couple girls at the Academy who want my babies'? Yeah, that would have seemed real mature." Sasuke, at least, kept his tone low enough that the girls couldn't actually hear him, unlike their former 'whispering'.

"Well, no, but I would have found it quite amusing and would have attempted to help you find a method to placate them anyway." Itachi gave his brother a small smile as the boy simply gave him a petulant glare. Too easy.

He looked back to the girls as they finally hit proper speaking levels again, and it was the pink haired girl who had caught his attention. "You know what? This is stupid. If you want Sasuke-kun you can have him! His brother is smarter, cuter, and far more polite anyway!"

This got a round of blinks from all three of the people nearby. Ino was the first to respond. "Hold on a second, so you give up? Official concession here?"

"No, I've just decided to move on to bigger and better things Ino-pig. I'm sure that you and Sasuke-kun will make a great couple." The girl crossed her arms, clearly standing firm about her choice.

There was a beat of silence before the blond made a high pitch noise of glee that sent a shiver of sympathetic dread down his spine. Poor Sasuke. "You're missing out Forehead, you know you don't have a chance with the Hokage, but hey, if you wanna use it as a cover for giving up, I'm not going to stop you." She glanced to him. "Nice meeting you Hokage-sama!" With that, she darted around him and after his fleeing brother. Clearly his sibling had seen what this development meant for him and was less than thrilled to face the results. "Sasuke-kun! I have great news for you!"

Slowly, with much reluctance, he looked back to the pink haired girl that was looking at him with a distinct blush on her face. "You... heard that whole thing didn't you?" When he nodded, she ducked her head. "Crap. Um. Can you just pretend you didn't?"

Amused that she'd even made the request, he tilted his head to the side. "And why would I do that?"

"Uh, um, because I insulted Sasuke and haven't actually gotten to know you pretty much at all?"

"You're right, you did, and you haven't. However, I'll be kind and only notice that you apparently decided you like me and ignore the entire 'trading up' part of it, shall I?"

When the girl squeaked and fled in mortification, Itachi couldn't hold back a soft laugh. Yes, this wasn't the calm he was anticipating, but that was fine. It was still a good ending to a rather stressful day.