In one fell assignment, Kakashi's fate became intertwined with Iruka's. He was trapped with bratty ninja wannabes until that man was free. He vaguely wondered what would happen if Iruka was condemned.
Surely they wouldn't leave Kakashi in the Academy forever?
The copy nin shook off such frightening thoughts and tried to turn his attention back to the little stack of essays on his coffee table- the ones Shikamaru had somehow tricked him into grading.
Shizune's assessment of the children being "demoralized" by Iruka's incarceration proved to be inaccurate. Kakashi would have chosen a different term- "homicidally enraged," perhaps. And they seemed to have found a target for their frustrations in the legendary Copy Ninja.
Having to constantly dodge deadly and non-deadly projectiles was irritating enough, but the fact that he'd barely spent time inside an Academy classroom before only increased the awkwardness. His father had trained him as a very young child and he'd skipped several levels of school, ultimately earning his genin status at age five.
His experience with Academy-level instruction was extremely abbreviated and, for some time, the fact that he had yet to learn to read or write was overlooked. Of course, he was able to recognize key symbols, like those on an explosive tag, but he didn't truly read them. It was not until age six, upon becoming a chunin, that Minato-sensei realized the deficiency.
A potential team leader could not afford to be illiterate, so his sensei decided to tutor him privately. Finding time between trainings and missions proved difficult, but like everything else, Kakashi's genius mind was able to pick it up with minimal instruction. Frankly, it was amazing that he managed to master written language, with sporadic sessions as short as 15 minutes long and a teacher who had no training in teaching literacy skills.
Of course, that was not something Kakashi cared to share with other people. Thus, complaints about his penmanship were met with dismissive shrugs.
Once it became obvious that the pile of paper was indeed not going to grade itself, Kakashi picked up the first essay in the stack. By the time he finished reading it, he felt a headache forming.
If these kids were the future of Konoha, the village would collapse in a week. Brandishing his pen, he scrawled on the top, "Thank you for wasting ten minutes of my life. I must now mourn the passing of my brain cells, as they died while I read this." He followed this comment with a bold, easily discernable "F"
Several essays were graded before he decided some dinner was in order if he wanted the focus necessary to continue this mundane task.
A brief scouting of his kitchen proved he had nothing left except some moldy take-out. It was time for the hated task of traversing the village markets and doing some grocery shopping…tomorrow. Tonight, he'd make his way to Ichiraku's. Ever since training Naruto, he had developed a taste for it, and found himself craving it at the oddest moments.
Sparing only a brief glance at the waiting stack of essays, Kakashi donned his green combat vest and exited from a window to travel by rooftop.
As he approached the ramen stand, Kakashi noticed a customer seated on one of the end stools. He had short blond hair and a civilian look about him, considering the doughy, unmuscled body, slouchy posture, and general unawareness of his surroundings. He was also nearly done with his meal, so Kakashi slid into a seat on the opposite end of the stand and ordered, knowing he'd be gone by the time he needed to remove his mask for eating.
"I'll have a bowl of miso ramen."
Teuchi, the owner, grinned. "It's great to see you again, Kakashi! You need to drop by more often. Business has been a little slow lately."
"Really?" Kakashi drawled, not having to fake the boredom.
"Yes, indeed. Ever since Iruka's been gone, in fact."
The copy nin suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "He comes here that much?"
"Well, kind of. Naruto isn't the only kid he treats to ramen, you know."
Kakashi gave him a blank stare, so the ramen stand owner elaborated. "He's brought half the orphans in the village by here at some time or another. I've made a fortune off this guy. I'll bet he spends half his paycheck right here." Teuchi shook his head sadly, "I don't know what I'll do if…"
"Wait a sec'!" The civilian customer on the other side of the stand exclaimed as he slid closer. "Are you saying that something's happened to Iruka-sensei?"
Teuchi nodded. "I overheard some ninja saying that he's been thrown in jail."
The blond's jaw dropped. "What? But why!"
The owner shook his head. "You know they'd never tell civilians like us that kind of information. I'll bet it's all sorts of classified."
"Pah! It's got to be a set-up," he remarked scornfully. "I'll bet Iruka-sensei angered some stuffy clan head by failing his kid or something."
Kakashi refrained from commenting. This conversation was taking an interesting turn. He wondered what Iruka could have done to inspire such loyalty in the man. Though if he insisted on slandering other ninja, the jounin would have to intervene. Thus far, all the civie had done was call the clan heads "stuffy," and that happened to be an accurate assessment.
"Poor Iruka-sensei," the blond continued, shaking his head sadly. "No wonder he's been missing his sessions."
"Sessions?" Kakashi interrupted finally. "What are you, his therapist?"
"Not that kind of session. Tutoring sessions," the civilian snapped. Then his eyes widened when he realized at whom he'd snapped. It's not every day one comes face to face with a living legend. He continued, a bit more meekly, "Ah, Iruka-sensei teaches reading and writing in the civilian sector. He works with the troubled children, the ones no one else can deal with."
Kakashi took in this new information and nodded. The chunin's uncanny ability to decipher unintelligible scribble was understandable now.
"Iruka-sensei's the only person we've found who's been able to control those kids and get some education into them." The civilian sighed. "I just don't know what we'll do if…"
"All right! I get it." Kakashi snapped.
He hadn't meant to frighten the man, but the blonde gave him a startled look and quickly excused himself after slapping some money on the counter.
The jounin sighed inwardly. He should have been a bit more mindful of civilian timidity. It wasn't the man's fault that he was yet another person who insisted on reminding him how irreplaceable the chunin sensei seemed. Perhaps the world did revolve around Umino Iruka, and he just hadn't noticed.
That amusing train of thought was derailed by Kurenai's sudden appearance at his side. "Kakashi!"
The jounin nodded in greeting.
"Perfect! We've been looking for you." She grasped his elbow and pulled him off the stool. "Come with me."
Kakashi didn't know why he was being summoned, but he allowed himself to be led away, while casting a regretful look toward Ichiraku, where his order had just come up. This had better be good.
Having expected some form of emergency, due to the nature of Kurenai's approach, he couldn't help but feel surprised when she led him into a dimly lit diner. It was a popular jounin hangout, though Kakashi himself rarely ate here. "Kurenai, you should have told me this was a date. I'd have worn my nicer uniform."
The kunoichi frowned and shoved him towards a corner booth where a few other jounin were seated. "Shut up and get over there."
Asuma, Raidou and Anko were the other occupants of said booth. Asuma grinned. "Now we have a firsthand source," he declared.
Kurenai slipped in beside Asuma, while Kakashi plopped down indifferently next to Anko. "What's all this about?" he asked finally.
"We were discussing Iruka-sensei's upcoming trial," Anko explained. She leaned closer to Kakashi and continued in a quieter, conspiratorial voice, "Trying to see how strong of a case these Sand guys have got."
"You interrupted my dinner to gossip about a chunin?" Kakashi stood up to leave.
Kurenai grabbed his wrist before he could escape. "It's not gossip. It's intelligence gathering," she corrected. "And we'll buy you dinner."
Kakashi thought this over.
The food here was very good.
He wouldn't be paying for it.
And truth be told, he was curious about what information these four had gathered. Taking a seat, Kakashi ordered his meal before satisfying their curiosity. "There's not much to tell," he admitted finally. He related Toric's assassination attempt and accusations. He also told them about Iruka's denial in the diplomatic meeting, but Kakashi refrained from giving up more details. Though not officially classified, it wasn't his place to reveal any more information than the basic overview.
The other jounin considered this new intel, obviously disappointed with how little it revealed. It didn't take long for them to dig in to their task, however.
"Ten years ago," Raidou murmured thoughtfully, "That would put Iruka at, what, fifteen years old?"
"Sixteen, if it was after May," Anko verified.
"Did any of you interact with him at all at that age?" Kurenai asked.
"Well, there was this one incident." Asuma began. Having everyone's full attention, he continued, "Back then, Iruka was just an assistant teacher. He and the master teacher, Niito-sensei, took their class for survival training in the forest and were attacked by a roving band of missing nin. One of the academy students managed to get away and alert the village. I was one of those called in to rescue them."
"And?" Kurenai breathed, "What happened?"
Asuma closed his eyes, picturing the scene in his mind, "When I got there, Niito-sensei was doing most of the fighting, while Iruka-sensei had the children gathered around him. The brats were calm in his presence, I remember. He knew how to keep them from panicking.
"I joined the fray, but it was a good-sized group. One of the attackers went straight for the brats, and Iruka-sensei was all over him. Now the missing nin was the better fighter, hands down, but the kid was hell bent on keeping his brats safe. He wouldn't back down, even after taking some serious hits. Iruka-sensei must have the luck of a hot-headed idiot, because he managed to kill the nin."
Asuma's face was thoughtful as he recalled the scene. "The brats were cheering like mad for their little sensei. They completely ignored my much more impressive combat prowess." He paused here to nurse his bruised ego.
"Anyway, once the fighting was over, Iruka ran to a nearby bush and threw up."
"Poison?" Anko queried.
"Nah, he just got nauseous, because of the kill," the jounin replied, a bit of a scoff in his tone. Having ended his tale Asuma leaned back and drew forth his conclusions. "From what I can tell, he likes kids, kids like him, and at sixteen he was puking over killing a man when he had no other choice. No way he kidnapped and murdered a nine-year-old civilian for no apparent reason."
The others in the group nodded in agreement, except Raidou, who was frowning. "I'm not so sure."
That got the others' attention. "Why not? Out with it!" Anko prodded. Literally. She was poking her fork into the scarred nin's arm.
Raidou scowled and brushed her arm away. "I can't tell you the details, obviously, but I once rescued him from a situation where he and a partner were being tortured. He was just barely seventeen at the time."
Raidou closed his eyes, though he seemed to be blocking out some unpleasant vision rather than picturing a scene. "I found him alive, but his partner was dead. Neck snapped clumsily. Her death had been very recent. Her body was still warm when I arrived. There was no one else in the room."
He hesitated as though considering how much more he should reveal. "I didn't question Iruka on how she died; he was obviously pretty messed up. I just brought him back, as per mission orders. I can't say for sure, but rumor has it he was the one who killed her. And judging from what I saw, I think I believe it."*
"If that was the case, Iruka would already be in jail." Kakashi pointed out.
"Not if he pleads insanity." Anko contradicted cheerfully. "Torture can really mess with a person's mind." She waved her fork in circular motions beside her head to emphasize the point, and the others shifted uncomfortably. Torture was a subject that only Anko could discuss cheerfully.
"Didn't Iruka have a pretty good relationship with the traitor, Mizuki?" Kurenai interjected.
Anko nodded. She was close to Iruka's age, so her time in the academy overlapped with his. "They were best friends, actually. Mizuki seemeddecent enough, but did you know he was once investigated for killing his own partner?" Her voiced lowered dramatically, as though narrating a scary story. "There were speculations and suspicions, but nothing could be proved."
"Just like Iruka." Raidou observed.
"Yes, and just to prove how murderous he really is," Kakashi scoffed, more than a bit annoyed, "He battles his best friend and takes a giant shuriken to the back in order to defend a boy the entire village hated. And if that weren't enough, he fights him again after the guy breaks out of jail."
Kakashi had been treated to Naruto's admiring and grossly exaggerated rendition of these stories numerous times. "Sounds like a psycho child killer to me." He finished sarcastically.
"You don't think he's guilty, then?" Anko questioned.
"I don't know." Kakashi answered honestly. "But I think we should respect him enough not to sit around assassinating his character with shaky rumors."
The silver haired ninja coolly departed, leaving four abashed looking jounin in his wake. This time no one stopped him. As he exited the establishment, he came to a disappointing realization.
"That's the second dinner I've walked out on tonight."
*Curious about Raidou's story? I've already posted it under the title Shattered. Check it out if you're interested.