"Do you know why I called you into my office during lunch today Mako-san?"

"No, Sensei."

We were currently sitting inside Iruka's office, a small and stuffy room with well worn wood flooring, faded blue walls and a window on one wall that overlooked the side yard of the academy. I was sitting in a plain wooden chair, place right in front of Iruka's large desk, which in itself was surprisingly clean and tidy. That was because the rest of the room was full of filing cabinets and small tables bursting with papers. These guys really needed to invest in computer technology outside the chunin exam tourney bot. And jutsu good for things outside of killing people. These people have magical powers. Why don't they use them for everything?!

Iruka frowned, his gaze turning soft as he changed into councilor mode.

"I'm concerned with your school performance."

I had to blink a few extra times.

What.

I just stared back at him blankly before Iruka decided to throw me for another loop.

"Would you like some tea?"

"S-Sure?"

He got up to grab the tea kettle from the back table, pouring the liquid into a small traditional Japanese cup. I took it gingerly, taking a small sip.

"Thank you."

He just nodded.

"You're very welcome."

Iruka shuffled through several files on his desk, eventually deciding to pick up a generic looking manila folder. It seemed to be pretty thin, a paperclip attaching a picture of myself that I don't remember ever having taken…

I'm seriously questioning the legality of that. Don't citizens have the right to privacy in their own village? I guess living in a militaristic society does come with its risks. In exchange for a loss of freedom, you gain security. That goes for all countries too. When putting in place laws and forming a government structure, the citizens give up the freedom to just do whatever they please. But there is also the question of how much government control there should really be and-

"Mako-san?"

"Hmm?"

Only now I just now realized that I was still holding the cup up to my face, staring blankly off into space. I quickly set it down on the desk, turning my attention back to the now very concerned looking Iruka.

" Has been anything troubling you lately?"

I shifted in my seat.

"Not particularly…"

Troubling? More like terrorizing.

He frowned, not looking entirely convinced.

"You participate consistently in class discussions though your opinions are… different. I've heard you participate and work very hard at practical exercises also."

I wasn't really sure where this was going…

"All of your math related homework assignments are completed, but everything else though… "

Eh he…

Iruka clasped his hands together, the corners of his mouth turning down even farther.

"Please help me understand Mako-san. For someone who tries so hard in their classes, it seems to be very unreasonable for you not to even turn in your assignments for even partial credit."

So it really comes down to this after all…

I gulped, trying my best to avoid looking into those very concerned eyes. It was a guilt trip waiting to happen.

"…Isn't being able to answer all of those questions when asked enough?"

Iruka sighed, leaning back slightly in his desk chair.

"In a real world situation it will be important to know all of this; you would actually be surprised how many of my students forget simple things by the time they graduate; like that there are many hidden villages besides the Leaf and how chakra works."

Uh… That stuff seems really basic. There is clearly something wrong with this school system if the kids that gradate from here don't know something so crucial to their future job. I could understand not remembering things like the Sand's political climate and law making bodies, but I guess they need to have a reason for exposition. This is a manga series after all. They need a reason to have to explain everything.

"It's important for us to have a way to check your progress."

Darn. That actually makes sense.

"I guess so…"

I couldn't tell him the real reason outside my busy 'schedule' for why I hadn't gotten any of that done.

Iruka scrambled around his desk, grabbing a couple of worksheets from a pile in the back. He put them down right in front me, handing me a pencil with an outstretched hand.

"Here. Would you please fill these out for me? I want to at the very least give you the chance for some remedial work."

I hesitantly took it from him, gulping once again with my heart now starting to pound. The pages were full of unreadable kanji, and the hiragana I read were mostly words I hadn't learned yet.

Grabbing the pages anyway under Iruka's hawk-like stare, instead of admitting anything then and there, I just tilted the pages out of view and started writing out whatever random Japanese I could think of off the top of my head. I mean, I could probably run out of there before he actually read anything closely…

Risu wa oishii desu.

The squirrel is delicious!

Beautiful.

Okay, so I couldn't read any of the first question; but I think the second has the word 'konohagakure' in it!

Konohagakure wa subarashi desu.

The Leaf Village is wonderful!

A bit of buttering up couldn't hurt…

At some point after that I got on roll, using the full extent of my basic Japanese knowledge.

Masuyo sensei wa kawai desu.

Masuyo-sensei is scary! A sadist is what I really wanted to say, but I don't know the word for that.

Kinou ame ga furimashita.

Yesterday it rained.

Okay, starting to run out of things here… Maybe I should start writing about what colors things are?

Once I finally reached the last question, I started to get up from seat, placing the papers on his desk and began heading back to class. But before I could even barely stand up-

"Why don't we go over these together?"

Crap.

I slunk back into my seat, watching in silent horror as a smiling Iruka reached for the worksheets in what seemed like slow motion. His fingers touched the paper, sliding them against the desk's worn wooden surface, growing closer to him by the second.

My eyes flickered to the sliding door, desperation leaking out though my fate had already been sealed.

The papers were swiftly picked up with precision, two hands gripping both sides. His eyes rolling down to read the characters I had just written. The concerns of his mouth twitched slightly, his steady look turning blank and unreadable, though his furrowed eye brows were a good clue to his feelings.

A page was flipped.

Then the next.

And the next.

And the next.

"Mako-san."

I could feel myself tensing up, eyes wandering to the floor boards as my hands started to practically strangle the armrests.

I knew it was coming. I was going to get the yelling of a lifetime. It made me flashback to Iruka's anger at Naruto's escapades. I can take yelling. I mean, who hasn't had agreements with their parents for life experience in that area? It's just a person can only take so much in a span of time, whether they deserve it all or not.

God. I really have that magical skill for pissing people off huh?

"Were you really trying?"

His tone was even, nothing giving away any sort of internal furry. I looked up, surprised to see a calm and collected Iruka, no noticeable facial quirks. He really wasn't giving anything away.

Its times when that happens when I'm scared the most.

"Y-Yeah?"

He put the papers back down on his desks, seemingly absentmindedly organizing the things on his desk.

"I'm disappointed."

I felt a deep pang at the bottom of my stomach, a sudden instinct to hang my head in shame. Something about those words always makes you feel terrible about yourself.

Iruka turned his attention back to me, giving me a steady look.

"I expect this sort of thing from my students here, but at eighteen you're practically an adult."

I met his eyes head on, raising an eyebrow at the ridiculous part of that statement.

'"Not to nitpick, but you guys send out kids at age twelve to go and kill people and have no moral qualms about it. I think I should be considered an adult."

To his credit Iruka didn't even bat an eye.

"While you are still my student here, you will be considered a child."

Something about that immediately ticked me off. I sat quiet for a moments stewing in furry until I realized I was just making his point.

"…Fine then."

There was a long silence before either of us spoke again.

"Do you really care about becoming a ninja?"

I bolted upright in my seat.

Where was this suddenly coming from?!

I nodded fervently.

"O-Of course! Being a ninja and learning ninja skills is awesome!"

Though I was still planning on just learning all the cool parts and never making it official. As screwed up as the governments of this world may be, awesome ninja stuff is still awesome. I'm not passing off a chance to learn it.

Iruka nodded in return, seeming pleased enough with my answer to crack a smile.

"I'm glad. It's not every day that we get an older student here. I know you missed your chance to attend because of childhood health problems, but if you're fully dedicated I don't think there will be any issues moving forward."

So that was the official story then.

He handed back the papers to me, this time with a very energized aura.

"Do these correctly this time alright? I know you're more than capable."

Uh…

Iruka lost his faith in me and yet somehow regained in minutes later. I was really backed into a corner this time.

I stared at the pages, the paper becoming more menacing by the minute.

He gestured for me to begin writing, smiling expectantly.

"Go on."

Running wasn't something I could do now. That would ruin the poor sensei and who knew what he would think after that.

My hands started to tremble, the characters all swirling together in my head.

I could only surrender now. I had to say one sentence that I thought I would never have to utter in my entire life.

Painfully, I said it.

"I can't read."

The feeling in the room instantly chilled, the composed Iruka quickly unraveling into a gaping, wide eyed onlooker.

He quickly sputtered out a few sentences.

"In- In your file it does say that you were comatose for several of those years, so you could have missed the chance to learn such basic skills-"

Oh, he's coming up with an excuse for me. Sure, I'll go with it.

I hung my head in somewhat-pretend shame.

"Yeah… pretty much."

Fun fact: Japanese is actually a pretty easy language to learn to speak, but what makes it hard is learning to learn to read it.

"I'll be happy to help you learn right away!"

Iruka sprang up from his seat, now digging through the papers in his desk.

"I believe I still have the materials in here from the five and six year olds classes…"

I quickly waved my hands in front of me.

"Er- No! It's fine Iruka-sensei! I've been teaching myself on my own anyway."

Papers started to fly as he opened up several filling cabinets.

"It's my duty as a teacher to make sure you are prepared to graduate."

"Really it's-"

He suddenly stacked a pile of textbooks in front of me.

"We still have some time before lunch ends! I want to get as much done as possible now, and then you can come in like this tomorrow too."

Well there goes all of my free time to try and solve massive problems…

At least now I get to be ahead in my Japanese class.

Yay?

Sorry it took me so long to update. D: My life has been pretty crazy with graduation and everything that goes along with that. Plus it's summer and that's when I get really lazy… I suddenly find myself with a lot of extra time, but instead of actually doing anything with it; I tend to just do random stuff on the internet all day. Yeah… I'm not very productive. I'm just going to have to force myself to push on through. I really want to see this story to completion! :D