Thank you for your reviews. I have this story *constantly* on my mind and
it's driving me crazy!! So, heh. This is my quickest update ever.
There may be spoilers but then again.. you can just think it's a part of the fic! ^-^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naruto slumped down in his chair and looked at the mountains of paperwork sitting on his desk. It was times like these where he tried his hardest to remember exactly why he wanted this position. "With great power comes great responsibility, with great responsibility comes a great amount of paperwork!" he shouted as he picked up his pen with renewed frevor and took it as a chance to practice his new jutsu: Paperwork no Jutsu! Upon gaining his prestigious title, Naruto was soon burdened with a heavy load of paperwork that was sure to follow after a long war. Luckily, he had a knack for developing what others had considered useless techniques.
Sakura watched as Naruto seemingly evaporated into thin air. Had it not been for the papers flying around from the same spot, she would not have known Naruto was still in the room. She continued to watch as the flurry of papers magically filed themselves into neat little stacks.
"Ha! Who said my useless techniques were worthless!" Naurto jumped onto the table and shouted in triumph.
Sakura tried to stifle a laugh when she noticed the paper-cuts all over his hands and face. "Did you finish your recordings just now?" she asked motioning to the neatly stacked papers.
Naruto laughed meekly, "Ehhh... I'm not sure."
Sakura's jaw dropped. Did he know what he was doing? "What do you mean not sure?!"
"Well, let's just say I haven't had time to perfect my jutsu. But you know what they say, practice makes perfect!"
Before he had any time to rest, his assistant appeared to take away the finished work and new mountains of paperwork emerged magically on his desk. Naruto sighed, he didn't suppose he would get paid overtime would he? "Sakura, maybe you should come back another time."
"But what about the.. eh... untold love story?" Sakura questioned. It was something that had always nagged her at the back of her head but since no one mentioned either Kakashi or Iruka, she felt uneasy about this whole situation. Missing-nins were soldiers that abandoned their village and thus were considered traitors. Of course they would eventually be hunted down and killed. Ultimately, only the news of their deaths would provide relief for the village, for it was only then that they were sure their secrets had vanished along with the bodies of the missing ninjas. Konoha had anxiously waited for any news of Kakashi or Iruka but nothing had ever surfaced. The villagers were torn; they didn't know whether to be scared that Konoha's secrets were at risk of being disclosed or relived that the two men were safe. Although no one knew the reasons behind their actions, many believed the two would not be a threat. If they were to betray Konoha, they would have left before, instead of after the war. Nonetheless, missing-nins were traitors and for fear of being singled out, no one in the village had mentioned those names ever since.
"I'll work on it later."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They were not friends but as fate would have it, they were bound to one another once Kakashi became Naruto's teacher. What would have been another day passing each other in the halls became a nod, a small gesture of recognition. Still, they were not friends yet.
Their first conversation, if one could call it that was when Iruka protested the nominations of the nine Genins to compete in the Chuunin exam. It was natural for Iruka to be concerned over the welfare of his former students, so the Third allowed him to test them before proceeding with their nominations.
Kakashi had been a little miffed at the outburst and the fact that Iruka did not have faith in his decision so he decided to confront him.
Iruka had been preparing to test the children when he sensed someone behind him.
"Do you really have that little faith in me."
Iruka's body stiffened. There was something in Kakashi's voice he feared. The other man had never approached him, let alone speak an entire sentence. "That's not true," Iruka replied defensively.
"They are no longer your students right now. They are my soldiers!" Kakashi stated bluntly.
"Is that so?" Iruka trusted Kakashi's decision, but didn't want to have any doubts. He didn't want to feel like he was sending them prematurely to their graves.
Kakashi watched as Iruka jumped out the window and vanished into the night. He reached into his pocket and took out his Come Come Paradise. Locating the dog-eared page, he resumed his reading and leapt out the window. He shrugged, at least Iruka was keeping them busy for now. It was time to catch up on some reading.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kakashi was so absorbed in his book that he almost missed the figure in front of him.
"They've all passed," Iruka admitted with defeat.
Kakashi smiled, his judgment had never failed him. He wanted to rub it in but one look at Iruka and he couldn't do it. His shoulders were hunched and his face was contorted with what seemed to be anger. Perhaps Kakashi would need to teach him a lesson as well.
"You shouldn't always play it so safe. If you don't take risks you'll never grow." Kakashi folded the corner of the page he was on and closed his book, "Why are you still teaching? It's nice and safe there at the Academy isn't it?"
Iruka would never admit it but Kakashi was right. The Academy was safe; there was no risk of death teaching. He had become a ninja because he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his parents but he feared death. He knew how it felt to lose someone and did not want to inflict that kind of pain in anyone else, though he was sure nobody would miss him.
Kakashi slid the book back into his pocket. Judging by Iruka's silence, he knew he had struck a nerve. It was rare to see a ninja so worried about life. Shinobi were soldiers and soldiers die. Iruka had a naive charm about him. It was a nice change from the attitudes of the shinobi he worked with but it was unrealistic. In the end, he would only suffer more.
"You've never been a true shinobi." With that said, Kakashi was gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please let me know if there are any grammatical errors & whatnot. I have no beta-reader so please bear with me.
Reviews?
There may be spoilers but then again.. you can just think it's a part of the fic! ^-^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naruto slumped down in his chair and looked at the mountains of paperwork sitting on his desk. It was times like these where he tried his hardest to remember exactly why he wanted this position. "With great power comes great responsibility, with great responsibility comes a great amount of paperwork!" he shouted as he picked up his pen with renewed frevor and took it as a chance to practice his new jutsu: Paperwork no Jutsu! Upon gaining his prestigious title, Naruto was soon burdened with a heavy load of paperwork that was sure to follow after a long war. Luckily, he had a knack for developing what others had considered useless techniques.
Sakura watched as Naruto seemingly evaporated into thin air. Had it not been for the papers flying around from the same spot, she would not have known Naruto was still in the room. She continued to watch as the flurry of papers magically filed themselves into neat little stacks.
"Ha! Who said my useless techniques were worthless!" Naurto jumped onto the table and shouted in triumph.
Sakura tried to stifle a laugh when she noticed the paper-cuts all over his hands and face. "Did you finish your recordings just now?" she asked motioning to the neatly stacked papers.
Naruto laughed meekly, "Ehhh... I'm not sure."
Sakura's jaw dropped. Did he know what he was doing? "What do you mean not sure?!"
"Well, let's just say I haven't had time to perfect my jutsu. But you know what they say, practice makes perfect!"
Before he had any time to rest, his assistant appeared to take away the finished work and new mountains of paperwork emerged magically on his desk. Naruto sighed, he didn't suppose he would get paid overtime would he? "Sakura, maybe you should come back another time."
"But what about the.. eh... untold love story?" Sakura questioned. It was something that had always nagged her at the back of her head but since no one mentioned either Kakashi or Iruka, she felt uneasy about this whole situation. Missing-nins were soldiers that abandoned their village and thus were considered traitors. Of course they would eventually be hunted down and killed. Ultimately, only the news of their deaths would provide relief for the village, for it was only then that they were sure their secrets had vanished along with the bodies of the missing ninjas. Konoha had anxiously waited for any news of Kakashi or Iruka but nothing had ever surfaced. The villagers were torn; they didn't know whether to be scared that Konoha's secrets were at risk of being disclosed or relived that the two men were safe. Although no one knew the reasons behind their actions, many believed the two would not be a threat. If they were to betray Konoha, they would have left before, instead of after the war. Nonetheless, missing-nins were traitors and for fear of being singled out, no one in the village had mentioned those names ever since.
"I'll work on it later."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They were not friends but as fate would have it, they were bound to one another once Kakashi became Naruto's teacher. What would have been another day passing each other in the halls became a nod, a small gesture of recognition. Still, they were not friends yet.
Their first conversation, if one could call it that was when Iruka protested the nominations of the nine Genins to compete in the Chuunin exam. It was natural for Iruka to be concerned over the welfare of his former students, so the Third allowed him to test them before proceeding with their nominations.
Kakashi had been a little miffed at the outburst and the fact that Iruka did not have faith in his decision so he decided to confront him.
Iruka had been preparing to test the children when he sensed someone behind him.
"Do you really have that little faith in me."
Iruka's body stiffened. There was something in Kakashi's voice he feared. The other man had never approached him, let alone speak an entire sentence. "That's not true," Iruka replied defensively.
"They are no longer your students right now. They are my soldiers!" Kakashi stated bluntly.
"Is that so?" Iruka trusted Kakashi's decision, but didn't want to have any doubts. He didn't want to feel like he was sending them prematurely to their graves.
Kakashi watched as Iruka jumped out the window and vanished into the night. He reached into his pocket and took out his Come Come Paradise. Locating the dog-eared page, he resumed his reading and leapt out the window. He shrugged, at least Iruka was keeping them busy for now. It was time to catch up on some reading.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kakashi was so absorbed in his book that he almost missed the figure in front of him.
"They've all passed," Iruka admitted with defeat.
Kakashi smiled, his judgment had never failed him. He wanted to rub it in but one look at Iruka and he couldn't do it. His shoulders were hunched and his face was contorted with what seemed to be anger. Perhaps Kakashi would need to teach him a lesson as well.
"You shouldn't always play it so safe. If you don't take risks you'll never grow." Kakashi folded the corner of the page he was on and closed his book, "Why are you still teaching? It's nice and safe there at the Academy isn't it?"
Iruka would never admit it but Kakashi was right. The Academy was safe; there was no risk of death teaching. He had become a ninja because he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his parents but he feared death. He knew how it felt to lose someone and did not want to inflict that kind of pain in anyone else, though he was sure nobody would miss him.
Kakashi slid the book back into his pocket. Judging by Iruka's silence, he knew he had struck a nerve. It was rare to see a ninja so worried about life. Shinobi were soldiers and soldiers die. Iruka had a naive charm about him. It was a nice change from the attitudes of the shinobi he worked with but it was unrealistic. In the end, he would only suffer more.
"You've never been a true shinobi." With that said, Kakashi was gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please let me know if there are any grammatical errors & whatnot. I have no beta-reader so please bear with me.
Reviews?