Alright.. This chapter just kind of wrote itself, hope you like it.

I'd like to use the opportunity to say that I really like all the ideas you are giving me in the reviews... I kind of doubt that I'm going to use them but I like getting them non the less :P It helps me look at the story differently, which then again helps me write. So by all means keep them coming if you want :)

It's also funny to see that some of you are actually coming up with ideas that I've already come up with and am going to use... Funny how that works out.

Thank you guys for reading and for all the reviews... Hopefully after this chapter you won't hate Iruka so much...

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Kakashi stared at the open door. There was a trail of water leading from it to Iruka's room. Or was it from Iruka's room to the outside. He didn't really care. All he could see where the little footprints in the water.

'Naruto...'

He clenched his fist around the collar of his Jounin vest. He tried to get his hands to stop shaking but they wouldn't listen. He tried to pull it together but he couldn't do it. He couldn't do anything. He tried and he tired but he just couldn't do anything. He never could. Couldn't save his father. Couldn't help protect Obito. Wasn't there for Rin. Couldn't help his Sensei. Tried his damn hardest to help Iruka and Naruto. He really thought he'd managed it this time too, but he failed. Like all the other times, he failed. It might not have been his fault but he was the rock. The foundation that held it all up. And he'd cracked. Bringing it all down with him.

He tried keeping it all inside. Tried to work through it like he always did but something in him finally gave up. His whole body was shaking now and he couldn't take it anymore. A scream burst it's way out of his throat. He didn't know what he was screaming for but he couldn't stop it from coming. He just wanted it to stop. The shaking, the screaming. The failure. He didn't even know he'd formed the Chidori until after he'd punched through the wall to his room.

He looked back at the open door. To the rain outside. He looked back down to the Jounin vest in his hand. Finally he took one last look down the hall to Iruka's room and then walked out.

He couldn't do this anymore.

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Genma didn't really know what had happened but he knew it was something big. Something terribly big. Iruka sitting frozen, staring into space with a horrified look on his face only strengthened that conclusion.

'Kami-sama I'm getting too old for this... I'm only 23 and I'm getting too old for this. My body hurts. My head hurts. Did you honestly have to kick a man when he was down and break my heart too?'

"Irukahh..." Genma's voice came out like a croak. He tried again "Iruka?"

Genma was really cursing his broken down body right now. His weak voice wasn't getting through to Iruka who had now started mumbling non stop. Genma focused all the energy he could into hearing what he was saying but could only get bits and pieces.

"Fucking asshole... made it all worse again.. never should have taken him in.. just made it worse.. complete failure.. should just go and die somewhere."

'Right that helps... A lot.' Genma glared at the ceiling. 'When I get better I am so going to destroy a temple you shitheads.'

"Iruka!" Genma coughed again. He felt like he would be coughing up blood before the day was over but he didn't really care at the moment. He finally got a respond from the insane asylum candidate next to him.

"What the hell happened?"

"All my fault" Iruka croaked out. "I'm a fucking asshole. I made everything worse. Should never have taken him in, I shouldn't be allowed to look after him. Shouldn't be allowed to be around children at all. Only managed to hurt him even more. I'm a complete failure. I should just go away and die somewhere.."

"Iruka! Man I care for you, really I do. But sometime in the next century I'd like to find out what happened before my head explodes. I want facts!"

Iruka ran his hands through his hair, dislodging his ponytail without realizing it. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and then tried again.

"I'm stressed out. Screwed up on the mission, came back to find you and Naruto hurt, got a bad shock when..." Iruka trailed off.

"When what?" Genma pressed him.

"When.. when you said something before you blacked out. Then I panicked.. almost left you there.. but Kakashi made me take you home.. and you died.. but then you came back and the Hyuga said you might not make it through.. and I blamed myself so much.. so much that I couldn't take it anymore."

Iruka clenched his fists in his hair. Maybe if he pulled hard enough the pain in his heart wouldn't hurt so much anymore. Genma couldn't really understand half of that, but he got the most important parts.

"I couldn't take it anymore.. it couldn't be my fault.. Didn't want it to be my fault. So I blamed them. For a moment I blamed my best friend and an innocent child and I practically screamed it at him. Naruto... Naruto must have heard it. It's all my fault... everything.. Everything's my fault."

Genma was quiet for a moment. 'Well that does certainly explain things.' If he didn't think it would kill him he would have rolled his eyes. He cursed his unmoving body again.

"Well then there's only one thing for you to do isn't there?"

Iruka looked at him hesitantly. "Wha... what?"

"If it's all your fault then fix the damn thing! Stop moping around feeling sorry for yourself and fix it! Even if it hadn't been your fault your friends are hurting. Are you just going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself or are you going to help them."

"I..."

Iruka's reply was drowned out by a scream. He and Genma both looked towards the open bedroom door. The scream had been filled with so much emotion. Anger, hurt, sadness.. despair. It had sounded so.. broken.

"Kakashi..." Iruka breathed out. He kept his eyes on the door as he stood up. "I.. I have to go." Without glancing back Iruka started walking out of the room. "I have to make this alright.. please let it be alright." And with that he was gone from Genma's view.

Genma lay there for a while. Suddenly he started laughing. He didn't know why but he just did. 'I'm going mad.. they're going to be the death of me I swear.' Just as suddenly as he'd started laughing he started coughing again. 'Well at least I'll die happy then.'

Genma's eyes fell on the water container just out of reach. 'Bastards!' He thought before his body decided he'd had enough and he slipped back into blissful unconsciousness.

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Iruka paused once he got outside. He tried looking at the ground for footprints or anything he could use but all he could see were puddles. It was times like these that he needed Kakashi, he was the master tracker in the team after all. Well he was the master brain in the team so he'd just have to use what he had.

'Now where would he go when he got upset.' Iruka thought. 'Well there is always that place.'

He hoped he'd gotten it right. If he found Kakashi they surely wouldn't have any trouble finding Naruto. He made his way to the only place he could think of that his friend would go to for comfort.

Iruka startled by the sound of thunder. He looked up at the dark sky. 'Perfect.' he thought. 'If this wasn't my screwed up life you'd think I'd walked into some cliché scene from Itcha Itcha where the guy runs into the rain looking for his hurt lover.' He started walking faster. His friend and his kid were somewhere out there. 'My kid... when did I start thinking of him as my kid?'

Once he reached the area Iruka started running but once he got to the place all he was met with was the cold hard surface of the stone. Kakashi wasn't at the memorial. He cursed out loud. If he wasn't here then where the hell was he. Iruka was about to turn back to the village when something caught his eye. He looked a bit closer at the stone and waited. After a little while he caught it again. A glimpse of orange movement behind the stone. He prayed to anything that would listen that it was what he hoped it was and slowly made his way towards the stone.

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Naruto ran without thinking. He didn't know where he should go he just needed to get away. From everything. No one wanted him around. No one. He didn't feel the hard earth under his bare feet as he ran through the village. He didn't feel the cold rain crashing down on him. He didn't feel the tears running down his face, the burning pain in his side from the running or how hard it was to breath either. All he could feel was the pain in his chest and the need to get away from it all. Away from the stares. The hateful words. Especially those hateful words he'd heard from his big brother figure. Maybe if he ran fast enough, far enough, he'd be able to out run them.

After a while his feet finally gave up. He fell down hard into the mud. Once he caught his breath again he sat back up and looked at his hands. He'd scraped them kind of badly. Something black caught his attention beyond his hands. He slowly got up and stumbled over to the now familiar shape.

He didn't know how long he'd sat there when he heard someone close by.

"Naruto." The gentle voice he'd been longing to hear earlier said.

He looked up and saw his own emotions painted clearly all over the others face. His brothers face. Full of loneliness, uncertainty and hurt.

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Iruka slowly made his way up to the child. He was sitting up against the stone, his head on his knees and his hands on his head. When Iruka got close enough he crouched down in front of Naruto, he reached his hand out to stroke the little blond head but stopped mid way. Reluctantly he took his hand back and called the boys name gently. He really didn't feel like he had the right to behave like the kids guardian after what he did. When the boy looked up brown eyes looked into blue once for what seemed like hours before Iruka tried again. He didn't know what he could do to make this all right but he had to try. He'd been a teacher for a year now and had helped teachers for little over a year before that. He was an expert with kids but he'd never had to deal with something as big as this. Especially something he'd been the cause of.

Iruka sat down in front of the boy, took a deep breath and tried again. "Naruto, I.."

Naruto put his head on his knees again and covered it with his hands.

Iruka felt hopeless. He looked at the stone behind the little boy, his eyes finding the spot he'd looked at so many times automatically. It was just above Naruto's right shoulder. He reached his hand out and touched the two names. The flinch from the kid didn't go unnoticed. He ignored it for now, along with the sharp pain in his heart, and focused on the names.

"Hello, mom.. dad. I'm sorry I haven't been here for some time but I've been very busy these days. You see, something big happened. Something so remarkable that you probably wouldn't even believe it. I know because it took me some time to realize it myself. A few months ago this little kid was thrust into my life. I didn't like it at the time. In fact I have to be honest and say that I completely hated it." Iruka chuckled.

"I couldn't have been more wrong. I tried and I tried to push him away but he still managed to crawl passed my defenses. And for that I am so eternally grateful. Because I really couldn't imagine my life without him now. I really couldn't." Iruka saw a little movement from the corner of his eyes but kept his gaze fixed on those two names. "This little boy has given me so much without ever asking for a single thing in return. He's brought me more happiness than I could ever have hoped for... happiness I thought I would never experience ever again." Iruka paused for a moment.

"But I think I've lost him. Because, you see, I made a huge mistake today. I took my anger, my hurt and my insecurities out on the two people I care for the most. I blamed this little kid for something he had nothing to do with. Just like I'd been doing before." Iruka took another deep breath. "So before I might lose this boy for good I wanted to introduce him to you. Mom, dad. This here is Naruto. He's my adoptive son... My little boy... he might not really be mine but I love him all the same. So even after I'm gone from his life I hope you'll look after him, like you would your own grandchild. I hope..." Iruka's words were cut off by the little bundle of orange that shot into his lap. He hugged the child close and kissed the boys forehead.

"Naruto." This time tear filled blue eyes held their gaze with his. "Naruto, I'm so sorry." Iruka gently wiped away his tears. "It wasn't your fault at all. Nothing has ever been your fault. Kami knows I've been a complete asshole and I don't deserve it but I hope someday you'll be able to forgive me."

Naruto nuzzled his head against Iruka's chest. "It's all right." He all but whispered. "You came back, so it's alright." Naruto hugged Iruka tighter. He had his big brother... his father back. He knew things probably wouldn't be the same for some time now but he'd come back for him. That was all that mattered, for now. Besides.. nothing got better by running away from it anyway.

After a while Iruka began to feel the cold seeping in. He looked up from the little boy in his arms at the dark clouds and the pouring rain. They had to get out off the weather soon. It looked like there was a storm coming in. Iruka stood up, picking the boy up with him, and started walking back to the village. Now there was only one other person he had to find before he could fix this all.

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Kakashi was half way to the memorial stone when he stopped walking. Out of old habit his hand went into his weapon pouch, his fingers brushed against the little orange book for a moment before he pulled his hand out again. He looked at his empty hand and noticed it was scraped and a bit bloody. 'When did that happen?' When he noticed the shaking he put his hands into his pockets. He stood in the rain for a full ten minutes. Looking down the road that would lead him to the place where he used to seek solace. He couldn't face it now. Not after another failure. The place was one big memorabilia of his biggest mistakes. For the first time in his life he wondered why he'd been going there all this time.

Finally he turned around and walked in another direction. If he couldn't seek comfort with the dead then he supposed he had to do it with the living. Now the only problem was finding someone alive he could go to. Kakashi grinned and shook his head. He really did have to spend a little more time with someone who had a pulse. Well there was always one person he could go to.

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"My dear Friend! The teacher of our Young and Innocent future! My dear..." Gai stopped for an awkward moment.

"Iruka" Iruka put in, eye twitching slightly.

"My dear Iruka-Chan. What can I do for you and your Wonderful little companion on Such a Lovely Day!

Iruka shuddered slightly when Gai grinned and gave his customary thumbs up. Almost every brain cell in his head was brutally murdering the part of his brain that insisted on remembering the name for that pose. The rest of them were wondering what was so Lovely about the thunderstorm outside.

"Have you seen Kakashi today?"

"Ah! My dear Eternal Rival? It is almost time for another one of our Youthful Challenges! It's a tie at the moment but I Will Prevail this time! Or I will run 500 laps around the village. Backwards. And Blindfolded!"

"That's nice... Have you seen him today?" Iruka was getting slightly creeped out by just how much bigger Gai's grin had gotten.. and Iruka did not get creeped out easily. He was also getting more and more annoyed. He'd tried every single place he could think of where his friend would go to when he was upset. He hadn't been at the memorial, his apartment, the Hokage mountain, the tree he usually read his book in or any other place he hung out at. Iruka had even gone to his own apartment looking for the guy.

"No my Most Honorable Rival has not crossed my Path today! Did you need someone to look after Your Most Precious Jewel? I would be more than Honored to look after Such a Perfect example of the Power of Youth!"

"Ah no thank you. I think the kid's been screwed up enough for today" Iruka mumbled while thinking where the hell Kakashi could be if he wasn't here. Gai had been his last hope.

"What was that My Dear Iruka!"

"What? Oh nothing.. I said Naruto's had more than enough fun for today." Iruka put on his best innocent teacher smile. "I really should be taking him home. I'll see you around." Iruka walked away, fast, before Gai could shout his goodbyes over the neighborhood. Which he did anyway.

Iruka was getting frustrated. He'd tried everything! He'd even asked Naruto where Kakashi might have gone because they hung out so much these days. Maybe the kid would know of a place he didn't but he hadn't known anything. Iruka needed help. Just after he'd decided to go to the only place he could think of for advice he felt like kicking himself.. even more than he already felt like doing. Why hadn't he thought about going there sooner.

Iruka really had to find him fast. Not only to make everything he'd screwed up right again but also because it was the only way to get Naruto out of the storm. The kid refused to let go of him and go home until they found Kakashi. Not that Iruka minded, he honestly couldn't be happier to be holding the kid and that things were getting better between them, he was just worried that the kid would get sick after spending so much time out in the cold with such little clothing. Iruka had dressed him in his sweater and ninja vest but the boy was still barefoot and soaked through.

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The third Hokage of the Leaf was sitting at his desk when his brown haired student burst into his office carrying what looked like a bundle of ninja uniforms with blond hair. Which, on closer inspection, turned out to be his adoptive grandson. Sarutobi barely compressed the chuckle that threatened to come out. The sight of Iruka standing there in his tank top, soaked through, hair either clinging to his face or sticking up awkwardly and holding a kid dressed in a ninja uniform ten times too big was indeed comical. And he knew this was a moment that he would look back on and laugh at. He just didn't think it was the right moment to laugh at it right now.

"Sensei have you seen.." Iruka began. The Third raised his left hand and pointed towards the couches in the corner of his office. Iruka glanced over. Kakashi was sprawled out on a two-seater fast asleep. His legs were dangling over the end, his left arm lying on the floor and his right arm covering his eyes from the lights in the office with the crook of his elbow.

"Came in a couple of hours ago." The Hokage glanced over his pipe at the sleeping form of his student and then back again to Iruka. "Wouldn't tell me anything. Just laid down there, mumbled a whole lot about failing everything and then fell asleep." Sarutobi looked hard at the younger half of the Akutenshi. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

Iruka looked between his partner and his sensei. "Well... You see..." Iruka put Naruto down and watched him run over to Kakashi. "I did something really bad." He rubbed the scar on his nose and looked back to the Hokage. "Uhm.. Something really, really bad." Iruka felt like a little kid who'd just been sent to the principals office, waiting for the punishment.

"Is that so... And what do you want me to do about it?"

"I.. What? Well uhm.. nothing really.. I mean it was all my fault, so I'll take care of it."

Sarutobi smiled "Well see that you do." He turned his attention to Naruto who had been standing next to Kakashi, hesitantly wondering if he should crawl into his lap or let him sleep in peace.

"Naruto." Sarutobi waited for the kid to turn around. "Come over here for a minute. I think Iruka has something to discuss with our sleeping friend over there."

Naruto ran over to his grandfather figure and raised up his hands. "Jijii, can I have some disinfectant. I scraped my hands." Naruto waved them in front of the Hokage's face to emphasize his point.

Sarutobi picked up the kid and set him on his lap before he opened a desk drawer and got the disinfectant. He wasn't just the Hokage of the leaf. He was a grandfather of a future ninja and before that he'd been a father to future ninjas. Keeping a disinfectant, or something else to clean wounds with, near him was almost as important as bringing your weapon pouch with you on an assassination mission. He then took the child's hands and started cleaning them.

"Are you alright." Sarutobi looked at Naruto's face, mainly his eyes, to see if he could read something from them.

"Yeah I'm fine, it's only some scrapes. They'll heal in no time."

The Third stifled a sigh. Naruto just sat there innocently looking at his hands. The Hokage couldn't see the slightest hint of any uneasiness in him but he knew it must be there somewhere. This was reminding him a little too much of another student of his who was good at hiding his emotions, unlike that one this kid didn't need a mask though. Sarutobi looked over to his other two students.

He really hoped he'd made the right decision by bringing them all together.

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Iruka walked hesitantly over to the sleeping form of his best friend. He sat down on the coffee table in front of him before he gently shook him awake. "Kakashi... Kakashi?"

Kakashi yanked his hand off his face and squinted around the room until his eyes fell on Iruka.

"Oh hey.. What time is it?"

"What time.. it..." Iruka wondered if his friend was fully awake or not.

"Yeah.. you know those watch things you keep on your hand? Tells you the time.. might want to look at it and tell me which numbers those pointy things are pointing at?" Kakashi looked at his partner expectantly. He certainly looked awake but Iruka still wasn't sure. He looked at his watch in confusion.

"It's almost 7 pm... Look Kakashi..." Iruka began but was interrupted again.

"Ok.. almost time for dinner then. We should be getting home." And with that he stood up and stretched his long body. "Naruto, say goodbye to the old man and let's go home."

Iruka sat the dazed for a moment before he turned to his partner again. "Kakashi, shouldn't we talk about this!"

Kakashi picked up Naruto who'd just come running to them. He turned to his friend and looked a bit too thoughtful when he answered shortly. "Uhm.. No." Then he turned around and gave a little backwards wave to the Hokage. "Later Gramps."

"Kaka... I really think we need to talk about this"

Kakashi kept walking. "Well I don't."

"Why the hell not!" Iruka looked as confused as he felt.

"Because that would only make you feel better." Kakashi grinned back at his friend. "And I'd much rather see you squirm in guilt a bit more."

"You!... you... Fine I guess I deserve that." Iruka grumbled and followed his partner and his kid out into the hall. He shook the last drops from his hair and began tying it up again while he watched the two people he cared about walk away from him.

At the end of the hallway Kakashi turned his head to the side and looked back with his one visible eye.

"Iruka." His voice sounded a lot more serious now. "There's nothing to talk about. You screwed up, you realized your mistake and you took care of it. Stop beating yourself up about it. That's what got you here in the first place."

"Kakashi.."

"I'm fine. I just had my own problems to deal with but I'm fine now. Besides I think we should hurry on home and take care of the biggest problem we have at the moment."

"Problem?" Iruka asked confused.

Kakashi shook his head in disbelief. "You forgot about Genma didn't you?"

"Oh Fuck!" Iruka remarked before he ran out of the Hokage tower and made his way home as fast as he could.

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When Kakashi finally made it home again with Naruto, Iruka was making his way down the bedroom hall. It had taken Kakashi considerably more time than Iruka to get home. It had stopped raining and Naruto had been busy trying to walk on the surface of every puddle he could find, he'd already cleared the walking up walls using chakra trick and was very eager to start the next phase. It had resulted in a very wet Naruto and a slow walk home. Kakashi just hoped Iruka didn't mind the ruined ninja uniform, some of that dirt looked like it was there to stay.

Kakashi lead Naruto towards their room, he really had to get the boy into a bath. He'd been outside in the rain almost all day and, truth be told, he was completely filthy. Suddenly Naruto stopped dead causing Kakashi to bump into him and nearly trip while he tried to ease the collision for the kid.

"What happened to our wall!" Naruto pointed at the big hole in it.

"Yeah Kakashi, what happened to your wall." Iruka asked, innocence incarnated.

"Mahh.. you see there was this fly that came in through the open door..."

"A fly?" Naruto looked sceptically at Kakashi.

"What.. It was a really big fly." Kakashi remarked before he pushed Naruto into his room and told him to get ready. He looked back at his partner just in time to see the uncertainty in his eyes before he turned around again and headed to his own room.

"Completely enormous!" Kakashi called after Iruka before he followed Naruto into their room.

He didn't need to burden anyone with his own problems.

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