Fic idea from Reddit user: u/ObligationJazzlike50

Fic name idea from Reddit user: u/scaevities

Exit Sage Left

An Awesome Impression

On any other day, Naruto would have gone home and lifted weights until he passed out. However, today wasn't like any other day, today, Naruto passed the bell test with his newly minted genin team, and Kakashi had blown Naruto away with his awesomeness!

So where was Naruto off to if he wasn't heading home? Well, to talk to the only person that would—and the only person that could understand him.

"Iruka-sensei!"

Nearly falling out of his seat, Iruka bit back a scream. Once getting settled, Iruka turned his attention to the blonde.

"Naruto, don't yell," Iruka replied biting back his own tendency to yell at Naruto. "There's no reason to yell indoors, I'm right here."

"SOR—er, uh sorry, Iruka-sensei," Naruto started but stopped the shout from completely coming out.

Iruka let out a sigh, "it's alright, just try harder next time, alright?" Naruto had the decency to look embarrassed. "Well? What is it? Why'd you come in here hollering, anyway?"

"Hm? Oh, well I wanted to talk about the bell test with Kakashi-sensei today."

"Sensei? That means you passed, well done Naruto. I knew you could do it."

"Heheh, gee thanks," Naruto replied with one hand already behind his head.

"So how exactly did it go, then?"

Naruto began to list off everything that happened with the usual embellishments here and there. Normally, Iruka would have shirked off and stopped paying attention, but since the night of the forbidden scroll. He felt much more inclined to give Naruto the time of day. That and he did not have any more work to do right now. But, one thing clearly stuck out more to Naruto than the action of the story.

"—and then he came out of nowhere, passed everyone, and said 'those who break the rules are scum, but those that abandon their friends are worse than scum,' totally awesome, right?" Based on Naruto's widening grin and flailing arms, Iruka knew that those words stuck with Naruto especially well. Well, that and Naruto actually remembered what Kakashi said.

"That's great, Naruto," Iruka warmly replied, "I'm sure that's a lesson all the Hokage could agree with."

"Heh, y'know it," Naruto smiled at the warmth. "But that isn't all came here for!"

A raised brow and tilt of the head prompted Naruto to continue.

"Y'see, I really wanted to show Kakashi-sensei how awesome I am too." Naruto continued, "And as awesome as I was during the test, I wanted to show him how much more awesome I can be. So..."

"So...?"

"I wanted to ask if ya could show some awesome jutsu to help me out."

"Naruto..." Iruka started but stopped, purging any annoyance from his tone. "Naruto, if you really want to impress Kakashi you should focus on your basics."

Naruto seemed to deflate before Iruka continued, "your chakra control could still use improvement. Before the incident, I wasn't sure, but now, I know for a fact that your issues are from how much chakra you have."

Opening his eyes to peek and see if his former student understood him. Only to see Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion.

Iruka leaned into the back of his chair trying to think up a better way to explain it. 'It's always been difficult to get Naruto to understand anything,' Iruka pondered before turning his attention to the rattling of the drawers at his side.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for some ramen, duh"

Iruka felt his own eye twitch. 'It's like all he thinks about is ramen—' Iruka's eyes widened. He suppressed a facepalm, not wanting Naruto to misinterpret his reaction.

"Let me put it this way," Iruka began, "if you had a giant bowl of ramen—" that got his attention.

"—and the noodles were also giant, trying to pick it up with ordinary chopsticks would be impossible, right?"

At Naruto's nod, Iruka continued, "but if you had giant chopsticks and you were strong enough to use those chopsticks, then it would be possible to eat the giant bowl of ramen."

"You have the opposite issue" Iruka trying to bring the anecdote back to the point of the lesson. "the jutsu are like tiny bowls for you, and every time, you try to eat the ramen you just end up squishing it into the ground."

"By improving your chakra control, you will have the right-sized chopsticks and even the ability to see the noodles more clearly."

"So... unless I have the control, I can't see or use chakra right," Naruto letting the words settle on his tongue. "Well, why don't I just get a bigger bowl of ramen, then?"

"That's part of the issue, Naruto," Iruka began, "there are almost no jutsu that are both simple and require a lot of chakra with the exception of the shadow clone jutsu."

"However, even though the shadow clones are a big enough bowl ramen for you," Iruka wanting to drive the point home, "you're spilling a bunch of ramen because of your lack of control."

Seeing the understanding on Naruto's face, reminded Iruka why he had decided to become a teacher in the first place.

"So, what should I do?"

"As I said back to basics, so do the leaf exercise."

"But I already can, what's the point of doing the same exercise?"

"It's an exercise, Naruto. You don't just do one push-up and then never do it again." Iruka paused before continuing, "besides, there are different variants to the exercise: you could increase the length, add more leaves, and do it on different parts of the body."

From there, a few ideas were traded, and some tips were given to help Naruto focus. Other improvements to the rather elementary exercise that might push Naruto were also given.

Naruto, seemingly vibrating with excitement to improve and show off, ran out with barely a chaste 'goodbye.'

Iruka sat there in the empty classroom, thinking back on the forbidden scroll incident and the lecture-like conversation. He'd never seen Naruto so willing to listen, so eager to improve. To some extent, it hurt that Naruto wanted to improve for a different teacher that wasn't him, but he also realized that Naruto actually came to him for help—something he wouldn't have done before the incident.

For not the first time since the incident, Iruka wondered how he could have failed Naruto so spectacularly. His own loss fueling prejudice against the blonde causing, for what seemed like an eternity, irreparable damage to any trust the blonde could have given him. Years of helping Naruto be better gone because of a few weeks of blindness. Even after the first incident, when Naruto was almost captured by foreign ninja, the damage had already been done.

Iruka would have liked to believe the excuse: that he was too busy to help any individual student. But the truth was that he was also scared. His own indecisiveness. Mucking up the status quo, Naruto, the class, and he had set up. Perhaps, that he would not be able to express his feelings the right way.

Iruka took a deep breath. And let go.

If Naruto was half the person he says he is, then he wouldn't care about those mistakes. Just that Iruka was here for him now. And damn it all to hell, he would be there for him now.

But first, a few changes to the lesson plans...

AN: Yup, this is my first fic. As funny as it would be to tell you all to tear me a new one in the reviews, I would appreciate criticisms on my portrayal of the characters. It is early in the fic, but I feel like Iruka and Naruto are done rather perfectly here.

If the summary looked like this was going to be yaoi: get baited that was the joke. Probably going to use female Sasuke just because that's the ship I die on. Don't get your panties in a twist because romance is probably taking a backseat in this story.

Spoiler because the prompt to this fic is a bit of a spoiler for what will happen much later in the story at the pace I am going. This fic is based on a Reddit prompt: where Naruto spends extra time on the leaf exercise and works up to accidentally becoming a sage.