Hi guys, I'm back! I recommend reading "The deer Champion" If you like fem!Shika! I tried increasing the space between paragraphs, but always removes them :( Im sorry

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A knock on the door roused Albus from his delightful sleep. He grumbled as he was pulled away from the dancing sherbet lemons, the wooly socks in bright colours, and him receiving an Order of Merlin First Class for saving the world. Light streamed in through the open curtains, illuminating his rather comfortable room. He had been sure they would be given the bare minimum, maybe even a shared (he shuddered) bathroom, but no. He had been given a very normal bedroom. A nice, comfortable, soft bed and not one of those futon things. An adequate, if small, bathroom was attached; and it was all indoor plumbing! Yes, overall, quite civilized for a bunch of murderers. Another knock, this time sharper, dragged Albus from his thoughts and over to the door. He opened it just in time for Minerva's fist to hit his shoulder. Albus frowned down at his deputy, disgruntled at both the rude awakening and the knock to the shoulder, before glancing behind her to see a smiling, tanned young male. His brown hair twisted up into a ponytail, and his eyes sparkling in welcome. Albus started to smile at him, before his eyes caught the ragged scar across the bridge of the man's nose. Albus couldn't help himself from staring. Though the cough, and sharp elbow to the chest, from Minerva as well as the flush starting to spread across the man's nose soon dragged him out of his startled space.

The young man bowed at the waist, a deep bend as a respectful gesture, before he spoke in a very smooth if excitable voice, a faint accent apparent. "Good morning Dumbledore-sama, welcome to the Hidden Leaf! My name is Iruka Umino, and I'm here to offer you a tour of the academy, and breakfast. Hokage-sama said you might be interested in how we run our schools!"

Albus blinked, taken aback by the early morning cheeriness. He did have to admit breakfast sounded nice, as this young man seemed like a pleasant break from the shinobi of yesterday. He smiled his best grandfatherly smile at this Iruka, before his eyes dropped to the uniform the boy was wearing. His breath hitched as he realised that he felt totally at ease with this shinobi, this trained killer. Albus shivered minutely before he reinforced his smile, missing the sharp brown eyes narrowing slightly as they caught the shiver. "Why, that sounds lovely my boy. Please give an old man a second to change, and I shall meet you downstairs. I do hope they have lemon drops here."

Albus closed the door on the scolding call of his name from Minerva and chuckled. Oh yes, nothing like teasing Minnie first thing in the morning to wake you up. With a cheery skip to his step, Albus pulled out his best star-spangled robes (a nice canary yellow today!) and waved his wand to freshen himself up. By Merlin, he loved magic. Not the same as a nice long bath, but the best he was going to get this morning apparently. Pulling on his matching cap, Albus deemed himself ready for the day. He left his room and locked the door, adding his own locking charm to it before trotting down the stairs. Albus sighed as his stomach rumbled, what he wouldn't give for a hearty fry up right now. Mmm, Albus could feel his mouth watering at the thought of bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns. Better hurry and catch up with their guide for the morning, if he wanted food anytime soon.

Iruka watched as the elderly gentleman drifted down the stairs, wincing at the brightly coloured clothing. Honestly, he could give Naruto a run for his money when it comes to the loudness of his clothes. Iruka snorted slightly as he concluded that the old man probably wanted to be the center of attention. He had been warned that the headmaster had the eccentric grandfather routine down pat, with the reason of being able to manipulate people. Iruka smoothed out his face, before any of his derisive amusement could be seen, and plastered his normal welcoming smile on. A near silent huff of disgust caught his attention, a swift glance out the corner of his eyes revealed the other wizard of the group. The only one of the three magic users that had been in contact with a shinobi in the last decade or so. The dour man was dressed in black and whites. A closer examination showed his wand clearly visible in its holster on his wrist. Clearly, Iruka mused, he was trying to show the shinobi that whilst he was armed, he wasn't trying to conceal it. Professor Snape was also the only wand user to have foregone wearing robes. Instead, he was dressed in slacks, a white shirt, and a black vest. Formal, and still outlandish, but less in your face than the robes the older members of the party were donned in. With a bow, Iruka turned to guide his charges to the private room that had been prepared for breakfast. As he walked ahead, Iruka groaned at the whispered conversation behind him… It was going to be a long day.

Severus huffed silently as he argued with the headmaster. Honestly, for a man of his years, he was acting like a child! Severus had informed his companions that the breakfast meal here would be very different from what they were used to. There would be no fry up; instead, an inn like this would serve the traditional breakfast selection. Likely a bowl of light miso soup, rice, pickles, vegetables, some kind of eggs, and possibly a protein dish. Severus remembered as a child when Lily's cousin visited, she would make traditional breakfast for him, Lily and Lily's parents as a thank you for having her. Severus's lip curled, Petunia used to refuse the food, but it was honestly the best breakfast Severus had in the holidays. Severus was pulled from his reminiscing at the whining man child. Severus rolled his eyes and sped up to walk with their guide, leaving Minerva to deal with Albus. In the meantime, it would be good to learn about the day's plans from Umino.

"Excuse me, Umino-san. Could you tell me the plan for today? I was wondering if I would have time to search for some herbs that are bountiful here, but not back home." Severus stumbled over some of the words, the flush of embarrassment heating the back of his neck, as the guide turned his head to give Severus his full attention. Severus was glad their new friend was a teacher, the patience he exhibited with both the whining behind them and Severus's attempt at speaking conversational Japanese, was appreciated.

"Hai, of course, Snape-san. Please call me Iruka without the formality. After breakfast we have a tour of the academy, and some of our less… unique… classes." Here Iruka paused to throw an amused look at his age peer. To his surprise, Severus both caught and exchanged the look, clearly, he was less disturbed at the job description of shinobi than his older colleagues. Having noted that Severus seemed to be a little rusty in his casual use of Japanese, Iruka made sure to speak clearly and slowly. "After which the Hokage has invited us to lunch, along with the teams selected for the mission. If you wish to gather herbs, I suggest talking to Yamanaka-sama. He would be able to provide you with most plant-based items. If not him, Nara-sama."

Severus bowed his head in thanks as they reached the dining room, looking forward to a healthy balanced meal that wasn't covered in grease, or bland. Ignoring the others behind him, Severus entered the modestly decorated room and sat at the low table, folding his legs under him. Watching in slight sadistic glee as Albus faffed around before giving in and lowering himself to sit at the same level as the rest of them. Once the food was delivered, Severus thanked the innkeeper, and picked up the chopsticks, noting that the three of them had been given both chopsticks and cutlery. A gesture Severus hadn't expected. With a nostalgic delight, Severus tucked into his breakfast, glancing up from time to time to see how his colleagues were faring. As he expected, Minerva was using the cutlery, but did seem to be enjoying the lighter, healthier spread. If he recalled correctly, she mostly had toast or porridge in the morning and avoided the greasy foods; so, it's not a surprise that she was enjoying the provided meal. Albus, however, was definitely sulking as he picked at the offerings. To Severus's dark enjoyment, he noticed that Albus only ate the rice and some of the vegetables. Leaning over, Severus stole a few of Albus's tofu, before pushing the rest of the plate to their guide. No point in good food going to waste…

Iruka barely managed not to laugh, as the eldest member of the group clearly sulked over the difference in breakfast. He decided not to mention that he had specifically asked for a traditional breakfast instead of the western food the innkeeper had offered to cook. It may have had something to do with the jounin commander asking him to make sure they left as soon as possible… but Iruka would never admit that his method of doing that would be by following the rules his grandparents had insisted on for guests. Still, it was going to make for an interesting morning. Movement from the younger male of the wizards, a potions master apparently, caught Iruka's eye. Iruka watched with growing amusement as the guy clearly eyed his companions, before reaching over and helping himself to half of the headmaster's tofu. Iruka barely suppressed his grin as the plate was nudged towards him in offering, at the offended look on the old mans face. Apparently, he wasn't the only one that caught the look, as the stern looking witch opened her mouth and scolded the headmaster.

"Really Albus. You quite obviously were not going to eat it. Let the boys finish it, instead of wasting it." Her accent was fairly heavy, and her voice held a hint of suppressed exasperation. Still glaring at her boss, the modestly dressed woman pushed the plates of pickles and omelets over. "Please do help yourselves Severus, Mr Umino. I hate to see good food go to waste."

Iruka grinned and bowed his head, feeling like he was the student with her, as he thanked her and split the dishes with Severus. The rest of the meal was small talk, mostly between him, Severus, and Minerva. They discussed the political differences, the education differences, and the cultural difference between their respective worlds. Iruka filled their guests in the unspoken rules of the clan districts, deciding that if at least one of them was staying for 6 weeks they would need to know. Before he knew it, the table was cleared, and it was time to head to the academy. With a chirped thank you to their hosts, Iruka bounced to his feet and started to chivvy his charges out and on to the academy for the next part of their morning.