Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Of all the places I thought I'd end up, teaching at the Academy was the last one. I was a hellraiser for my teachers, always playing pranks and getting into trouble.
Looking back, I sometimes blush and wonder what I was thinking. Its lonely, being an orphan, growing up remembering all that you lost, all that once was.
Still, things you do when your young seem foolish and well... stupid, when you look back. The mixture of guilt and embarrassment churns in my gut, making me blush just thinking about it.
Not that its any excuse, being young. Its just... a phase, but one that a young man or woman has to be accountable for.
So, where the HELL is Naruto!
God, I've taught him myself for years, and I have no idea how he's evaded the ANBU teams for this long. I've pulled pranks in my time, but this is insane!
Pulling the ANBU on him is harsh, though. Sending an assassination team to hunt down a boy simply because he defaced the Hokage monument seems a bit much.
You'd think, as the Kyubi's vessel, he'd have amazing powers and a vicious, brutal tendency towards a psychopathic slaughter.
Instead, he's really just a kid who wants to have a friend.
You can't really be afraid of Naruto, not if you've failed him on every test he's ever taken and watched in utter amazement as he screwed up even the most basic jutsu.
Wait... glimmering blond hair... I know that one.
"Naruto! There you are!" my voice is a bit too harsh, and he flinches and stares up at me with the same, "Go-to-Hell" defiance he shows whenever he thinks he's backed into a corner.
I feel a twinge of pain. I know that look.
He's irritated and inside I know he doesn't really want to cause trouble- but it's the only way anyone will even give him more than a first, withering glance.
I know, I know you're hurting. And I'm sorry.
Even as I'm dragging him to clean up the monument, I can't stop the teacher in me from berating him for doing such a thing, even though I've pulled pranks and been in his situation plenty of times before.
After I'm done scolding him, he looks almost crestfallen until he turns away, trying not to look like what he is- scared and lonely and not sure if he's ever going to be anything at all.
Damn it.
"You want some ramen when you're done?" the words come out rather shy, and I look up at him and in that moment I saw his heart, open for just a moment, wounded and scarred.
He looks at me with such heartbreaking happiness over this simple gesture that I thought I might cry.
But then a foxy, overjoyed grin that seems way too bright, like a mask of sunlight.
It was only for a moment, but I understand just how much it meant to him that I offered him anything at all.
The feeling that I had done something good, something greater than passing on the knowledge of how to fight and survive and, as much as I hate to think, kill to teenagers and younger.
---
The feeling is nearly as gone as my wallet, empty and utterly shocked.
I simply don't get it. Naruto's like a bottomless pit!
"More please!" I want to say no, but the simply happiness on his face when he takes that first, well, actually only gulp of that ramen makes it impossible to deny.
When the Yondaime sealed the Kyubi in him, did the Kyubi keep its own hunger too?
The chef's looking at me. He's obviously seen Naruto in here plenty of times, but never with another person.
Biting my lip, I smile. "Keep it coming." The words and smile are so easy and make my heart lighter than its been in a long, long time.
And its because of Naruto. Simply being around him makes you feel... better, as though his determination and never-say-die-because-there's-something-better attitude become your own.
He can be Hokage.
If only people could see what he is... what I've only been able to see because of my pain.
As he devours the last bowl, at last, he sits back and sighs, burping loudly and only looking proud at the sound, grinning at me boyishly.
It makes me feel like a kid again.
"Thanks Iruka-sensei!" the fox grin is there, but the sincerity is unmistakable. He pauses, and peers at me. "Can I see your head protector?" his voice is thin and eager, and his eyes light up as he eyes it.
I shake my head, and feel utterly bemused and amused. "This is for ninjas, Naruto. I-when you graduate," I correct my words with a smile, "Then you can wear it."
He looks amazed. No one's probably ever even hinted they believed he could be anything more than the Kyubi incarnate or a dead last loser with no friends, family, or future.
But I know there's something more for you, Naruto. Something great, and special.
The Kyubi's only made you stronger, Naruto. Its made you shine with something that one day, everyone will see.
I meant it when I said when, Naruto.
I'll see you graduate, and damn it, I'll one day go into the Hokage's office and look you in the eye, and we'll share a smile.
Though when you're Hokage, you're going to be paying for the ramen, Naruto.
---
Mizuki... that traitorous bastard! How dare he trick Naruto like that!
I didn't want to fail him. Before Heaven and Earth I swear I didn't want it, and it broke my heart to see him look so crestfallen. But I didn't want him to win his dream because someone gave him a break.
I wanted him to win because he earned it.
Just like he'd earn the title Hokage.
Mizuki took advantage of that pain though, that loneliness and isolation, the need to prove that you're worth something to anyone and everyone.
I can never forgive something like that.
What's worse, is Naruto now knows why he's so hated. He hasn't appeared yet, but I get the feeling he's frozen right now.
That must be one nasty surprise. Finding out you're all that keeps a murderous fox demon from slaughtering us all, and finding out that because of some dumb chance you've been given a burden you never wanted.
Its probably like walking home and realizing your house is empty and that there will never be another warm embrace welcoming you home or a ruffle of your hair as your father looks at you with pride.
But Naruto isn't the Kyubi. The might not realize it now, he might not know it yet, but damn it, I know it.
"He's not a demon anymore... He's Uzumaki Naruto!" my voice rings out clear as day, and I know that even if I die, Naruto had one person who believed in him.
"If you ever lay a hand on my sensei, I'll KILL YOU." This voice rings out through the forest and Naruto stands there.
He doesn't look like the Kyubi, a raging demon of blood and terror and absolute power.
He stands there as a man, a man who is willing to die and bleed and fight to protect those he cares about.
That's what a Hokage is, Naruto. That's what you really are.
But this is hopeless... there's no way he could hope to beat a chuunin like-
Holy. Shit.
The Bunshin is supposed to be his worst jutsu.
The Kage Bunshin is a jounin level jutsu! I doubt most jounin could produce more than a score of these things, but Naruto has at least a hundred!
Mizuki obviously realizes just how bad the situation has become, but its too late.
I can't stop gaping or staring. This should be impossible. An Academy cadet, much less the dead last student, shouldn't even be able to do more than put up a passing fight against a chuunin.
But Mizuki's down and Naruto's standing.
He looks so proud of himself... and I don't blame him.
I may be the only one who sees what you are for now, Naruto, but everyone will one day.
"Naruto... come over here for a moment." I have to sit and lean against the tree because its so painful, but at this moment, I could care less.
Before he can question me, I place my head protector on his head.
The sun is shining now, and illuminates the forest as though it were the light of Heaven.
Naruto is looking at me with gratitude that I can barely accept, knowing how long I stood idle, empathizing with his pain but never acting.
"Congratulations, Naruto." I smile, and he smiles back, and the world feels better than it has in a long, long time.
Author's Notes
I'd like to thank Geonitz for catching several goofs in the last chapter. I would like to have it stated now-
I am an idiot.
Okay, thanks for that, and for the heads up. I wasn't sure if Ayame was fan created or actually canon.
The words are probably different than the actual canon, so I'll apologize now for any discrepancies. Iruka swears more because its inside his mind, and he's not bound by social decorum in his head.
Now we start following the storyline, told from differing POVs.
Up next-Konohamaru.
