This is the last one that has been beta'd since I edited the other chapters and am in the middle of writing out the rest of the chapter I'm currently working on.

Please enjoy it, lol.

Thank you for the alerts and reviews.

Naruto = flash back

'Naruto' is thoughts/thinking

"Naruto" signing/sign language

"Naruto" speaking.

"Naruto" Demon

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto just some DVDs and games.

Chapter 21

Iruka was sat at Ichiruka Ramen bar, he sighed. Today had been rough. He desperately needed a second teacher there was no way he could handle the students he had all by himself, not if he was expected to give them all his undivided attention although it was nice having Konohamaru in the class, he discovered he had a roguish attitude but he was a genius who, unlike Naruto didn't disguise it. Therefore, while his attention was diverted Konohamaru could help his friends' progress, seeing as Naruto had probably already gone through it with him. He sighed again, causing the two owners of Ichiruka ramen to look up worriedly at him. Teuchi and his daughter Ayame often watched after Naruto's favourite sensei as it often meant that Naruto or his little brother Konohamaru weren't too far behind. Iruka slumped forward onto his crossed arms he didn't want to admit that he needed help but there was no way the children would benefit from him being stretched so thin. His head now resting on his arms lolled to the side staring away.

Naruto had collected Konohamaru from the academy earlier today and was shocked to hear how things were going in the classroom he felt bad for Iruka, knowing what sort of person he was, he was probably blaming himself for not being able to give everyone the attention they deserved.

Naruto looked up just in time to see Iruka his brow furrowed in worry. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, as he walked straight into Naruto, who bounced down to the floor. He was pulled up rather quickly as Iruka righted himself then assisted in grabbing Naruto.

"Sorry about that Naruto I was a bit distracted." Iruka rubbed the scar across the nose.

"Its okay sensei, did you want to come round I was going to try a stir fry?" Naruto laughed. "It'll be a chance to catch up and hang out. We haven't really had a chance to lately." Naruto asked his eyes shining with excitement.

"I kinda just ate." Iruka smiled sheepishly.

"That's fine you can help me taste test." Naruto smiled grabbing Iruka's hand and pulling him towards his apartment.

Iruka was sat at the table in the kitchen watching as Naruto prepared the ingredients. He was cutting a carrot into half then into strips. Naruto crushed the garlic expertly before passing a courgette to Iruka and grabbing a clean knife grabbed the beef fillet and began cutting it into very thin strips. Iruka finished cutting the courgette like in had the carrot grabbed the baby sweet corn which he cut into quarters.

Pouring in the oil Iruka put the garlic, carrot, sweetcorn and courgette into the wok stirring them to make sure the received the correct amount of cooking. Naruto added the beef and allowed Iruka to stir that in. He grabbed some cornflower and mixed it together with water and stirred it into a beef stock. He grabbed a second wok where he added rice and allowed that to cook stirring intermittently. He poured the stock into a pan and added some sugar, soy sauce a handful of sesame seeds and two drops of Tabasco sauce. He allowed it to simmer and stirred until it became thick.

Iruka leaving his vegetables on a low heat collected two plates and laying them out, allowed Naruto to serve it out, and grabbed some cutlery as Naruto deposited the empty, dirty pans into the sink and filled it with water allowing them to soak.

Finally seated at the table Iruka with a small portion and Naruto taking the most together dug in.

"That's really good Naruto." Iruka spoke around a mouthful of food.

"Thanks Uncle Asuma and I are trying to improve our culinary skills. The Akimichi clan are willing to teach us which is great seeing as Goa wants to be a chef."

"If his cooking is anything like this then he'll be fine."

"Actually his is better. But then he was always good with food at the orphanage." Naruto smirked putting his empty bowl into the sink. He turned as Iruka finished his and handed his bowl over. The washing up was completed allowing the two to relax allowing their food to settle.

Iruka settled on the sofa as Naruto grabbed a book. Naruto knew from experience that Iruka was tired. He could see the tell tale signs on his forehead and the way he practically relaxed in his seat.

"Iruka sensei?" Naruto looked up from his book suddenly. "I could help you out in class. I mean it would just be for a day, but I don't mind, I know you need the help so I don't mind; besides it would be nice to work with you for once." Naruto spoke very quickly as a blush spread across his cheeks.

"I... are you sure? I'd love to have you as my classroom assistant." Iruka stammered a blush spreading across his cheeks also. Naruto nodded from his position on the floor of the chunin's apartment. "Thanks Naruto. It's getting late I better head home it'll be an early start tomorrow." Iruka smiled.

"It's always an early start for me, Sensei." Naruto smiled back.

The next day found Naruto waiting nervously inside the classroom with Iruka Sensei. He was sat on a chair in the corner while Iruka was seated behind his desk.

"Relax Naruto, it'll be fine."

"Yeah until they go home tonight and tell their parents that I was here. That will go down a storm I'm sure." Naruto spoke in a sarcastic manner.

"I never thought of that." Iruka rubbed his scar "I'll explain to them that you are just for today. Who knows you might be good at it." Iruka smiled kindly. The bell rang as Iruka stood and opened his door, letting his class enter the room. They came in making as much noise as possible and took their seats chatting amongst themselves. A few noticed Naruto sat in the corner his scarf pulled up hiding his lower face as he scanned the class.

"Right class today we have a visitor. This is Naruto he's going to be helping me out for today. Think of him as a second teacher, but only for today." Iruka watched as the class shifted their gaze from him to Naruto and back. "Now today we are going to learn about the world." He pulled the map down over the black board.

"Can anyone tell me what the five main countries are called?" He asked.

Konohamaru's hand was raised slowly joining about seven others in the room. Iruka picked Udon who was sat next to Konohamaru.

"The land of water, lightning, fire, wind, and earth." Udon read off dully as he wiped snot from his nose.

"Good so now who would like to show me where they are on the map?" Naruto suggested standing and moving towards the map.

Udon gaped at Naruto.

"It'll be fun." Naruto prompted as Iruka moved back allowing Naruto to take the lead. Udon looked to Konohamaru he nodded and pushed him towards the board.

"Okay point to a place and tell me where you think that is?" Naruto smiled. Udon gulped and pointed to the lower part of the map. "What one do you think it is?" Naruto prompted.

"The land of fire." Udon sounded unsure.

"Well done who wants the next country?" he turned back to the class. To see several raised hands. He picked a young girl with blue hair. She pointed to the lower left of the map.

"The land of wind." She spoke carefully.

"Well done. Who's next?" she beamed.

A boy with blonde hair came up to the board. He pointed to the piece of land in between the land of fire and the land of wind.

"The land of earth." He spoke smugly.

"Are you sure?" Naruto questioned. The boy shook his head, his smugness evaporating. "Let's help him out shall we, who knows what country this is?" Naruto asked. "It's not a very big country so what do we think it is?" he caught out the corner of his eye, Iruka listing alphabetically the names of the smaller countries next to the map.

"Yaku." Iruka mouthed at Naruto.

"Yaku we have a list of countries on the left did you want to cross out this one, okay?" he watched the boy nod and stand next to Iruka taking the chalk from him. "Okay so anyone want to guess which country this is? We've got a list of names it could be." Naruto smiled.

A girl with short thick brown dreadlocks raised her hand. "I'm Matsuri. Is it the land of... ...rivers? It kind of looks like you drew water next to it." She explained.

"Very good Yaku mark that off. Now who's next?" a shy blonde girl wearing a pink poufy hat.

"I'm Futaba. This is the land of earth." She pointed to the top left of the map.

"That's right. Yaku where's the land of earth?" Naruto challenged. Yaku pointed to the top left. "Good okay who wants the land of lightning and who wants the land of water?" Naruto asked as the class began to get excited about his activity.

He had two boys come up, Nobori a boy with short brown hair and an orange shirt under a brown jacket, with blue pants and matching ninja sandals, and Daichi, who was wearing a grey shirt with a stripe running through the middle as well as on the cuffs, along with a pair of dull purple pants and sandals. He also wore bandages around his legs and a headpiece that resembled a sort of headphone.

The two boys discussed amongst themselves quickly as they decided who was picking what. Daichi pointed to the bottom right while Nobori pointed to the top right.

"The one on top is the land of lightning."

"And the one surrounded by the water is the land of water." They finished each other's sentences.

"Well done. So which country on our list is this?" he pointed to a country in between wind and earth.

"That's Ishigakure the village hidden in stone." The blue haired girl from earlier replied. "My dad's just come back from a mission there." She explained.

"Kaede Yoshino." Iruka mouthed at Naruto, who nodded as that was marked off the list.

"Okay what's this one in between the land of stones and the land of rivers?"

"The land of rain." Moegi guessed, looking at the symbols that Iruka had drawn next to his list.

"And above that is a country with lots of...?"

"Grass." It was marked off the list.

"That's the land of waterfall above it. That's where I used to live." A red haired young girl spoke out. "Akane." She smiled warmly at Naruto.

"Okay." Naruto remembered the shock of red he saw when he picked Konohamaru up when Kakashi was following him.

"Four left." Iruka took over.

"Well the land of waves is that small one on the bottom." Konohamaru explained as Naruto pointed to it. "My brother has been there for a mission." He smiled shyly at Naruto.

"Three left." Iruka said.

"That's the land of frost. It's always covered in snow." The patch of land next to lightning was identified.

"The one below that is hot water I think?"

"And this is the recently formed land of sound." Iruka explained.

"Wait sensei there's another one." Akane spoke out. She ran down the stairs and pointed to some islands just east of the land of fire. "It doesn't exist anymore but that's where the whirlpool country used to be."

"Why doesn't it exist anymore?" Matsuri asked.

"Uzu was an alley of the leaf and had ninja who were renowned for their fuuinjutsu during the third shinobi war which lead to their destruction during this war." Iruka explained drawing their symbol next to the name on the list.

"That's the symbol that's on the back of your vest." A boy pointed out.

"Yes, it was incorporated into our uniform when the first hokage was around." Iruka explained again.

(Line)

"Hokage, could we please have Naruto accompany us on a mission." Ume practically begged as she stood with her team in the mission's office, their sensei frowned at them in annoyance. He was the one who got in trouble when his team over stepped the mark.

The Hokage sighed and puffed on his pipe, "Okay, as a trial run, depending on how he and you perform on this mission, will determine if and when he can accompany you and your year mates on their missions. Understood?"

"Yes sir, thank you sir." the three chorused.

"Is that okay with you?" the Hokage asked turning his gaze onto their jounin sensei. Who was stood there in profound shock, he never expected the Hokage to say yes none of the jounin senseis did. He looked down at his students their faces begging him to say yes, he didn't even know the boy how was he supposed to react to this.

"That's fine. Lord Hokage." He nodded. He was swamped by a very grateful Ume, as the Hokage held out a scroll.

(Line)

Target practice was interesting to say the least. Konohamaru had teamed up with Moegi and Udon and was showing them how to throw correctly which left the other 27 children. Iruka was walking amongst them trying to help them, when Naruto created a few clones now there was a person between three pupils. By the end of the class they had all managed to hit the target and where trying to improve their aim for next time.

At last the academy students were finished for the day and the children were excited at the prospect of Naruto being in their class tomorrow. They ran out the door as soon as they could.

"Did you know there are three types of learning styles? Auditory, visual, and kinaesthetic learners. I thought it might be more interesting and fun to combine the two. You used to do this with my first class. That and Konohamaru remembers everything I show him when I make it fun."

"It's a great idea which I should have remembered. They really enjoyed today I'm amazed at how much they learned and interacted." Iruka smiled "You were great. Thank you for all your help today, I'll doubt I'll get anybody as good as you." Iruka hugged Naruto. "I owe you dinner for this." He whispered.

"Tonight?" Naruto laughed pulling away. "We could have stir fry, that's always fun to make." Naruto smiled glowing slightly.

"Great I forget you eat more than ramen sometimes." Iruka laughed as they made their way out to where the students were.

Naruto waved goodbye and left with Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi.

I would still like for you to pick out your favourite parts if you wouldn't mind. It's quite interesting reading how many of you have the same parts or if it's the same as mine.

Please review and let me know what you think.

Thank you very much