Fugaku ground his teeth as he waited for his students to arrive. The wily old bastard who shouldn't have been able to re-take the Hokage's hat because he'd already surrendered it had tricked him and, like some stupid Genin on his first combat mission, he'd fallen for it. Because he'd signed a stupid contract, he was stuck with an unwanted position until the year was finished. The only good thing about this situation was the potential reduction in paperwork, since he'd put the most trustworthy of his subordinates in charge of the KMPF until his return.
Eventually, the students he would be training, at least until the academic year was at an end, started trickling in in ones and twos and small knots. The "civilian" children who'd mostly be going back to civilian lives once their training at the Academy was done and learning a trade from their families outnumbered the Clan children by about two to one in this batch that slowly trickled in as if they had all the time in the world as the clock ticked steadily over towards the start of the school day. A couple minutes before class was due to start, a Hyuuga branch house member came in carrying IT.
Considering the fact that IT was currently small and adorable, he could see why a number of students including his own son, who was far too overprotective of Sasuke as well now that he came to think of it, had nearly killed an Instructor over IT. His wife, who'd been something of a friend of IT's mother, would've most likely done that and worse to the man whom he had absolutely no pity for. His wife had wanted to take IT in following the incident, but had been unable to due to political reasons and other considerations.
"There's no need to seat Uzumaki at a desk." he said as he watched the boy try to get the toddler who was a few months younger than Sasuke settled next to him at a study table. "I've brought a playpen."
Looking to the front of the room at the object which was located next to the teacher's desk that he'd obviously overlooked, the unobservant Hyuuga boy picked IT up and carried IT over to the old and rather worn playpen which had formerly belonged to one of his more prolific cousins who no-longer had a use for it since the last of the man's children was finally old enough to be able to escape from it with minimal effort. As soon as the toddler was settled, he dumped in some educational toys that had been donated by another of his cousins after they'd learned what class he would be teaching. The bright smile IT gave upon receiving said toys was endearing.
If he hadn't learned exactly what lay behind that almost charming little smile, compliments of IT's mother, he would've almost been taken in by it.
Having dealt with the Uzumaki woman who'd spawned IT, he knew for a fact that the small creature in the playpen was a hellbeast in disguise. IT may have adorable chubby cheeks, large bright blue eyes, and the sort of innocent cuteness that would make you want to take IT home with you, but he knew for a fact that if you said one wrong word around IT, the claws and the fangs would come out and IT would become a howling fury. Mikoto may have blamed him for each incident, but he knew full well who was at fault, and the son would be at fault just the same as the mother, were there any incidents in the future.
Eventually, all of the class was in attendance and he gave a speech that he was sure would put the fear of him and whatever deity the children worshiped in them. There would be no messing around in his class, and any lapses in discipline would be immediately punished. Though they didn't seem to know it yet, since their families made the mistake of still coddling them, his students had ceased being children the instant they'd signed up for the Academy and were now future Shinobi of the Leaf. One or two of the little brats might even make it into the KMPF which occasionally accepted non-Uchiha in supporting roles...If they were good enough that was. They would have to be damn good to be accepted though, and he'd told them as much.
When he turned to the board to write up a problem he remembered having to solve when he was in the Academy, back when they were running students through as fast as they could due to the Second War, he felt something hit his leg. Looking down, he saw one of the rubber training kunai he'd dumped in IT's playpen on the floor next to him. Looking in the playpen, he could see that IT was chewing on the other of the pair. Looking out across the room, he could see a number of amused smiles.
"What are you smiling at?" he snapped, catching the attention of the room. "I'm betting that the Uzumaki has better aim than at least half of you brats."
That caused the smiles to slip off a number of faces belonging to children who were roughly the same age as his Itachi, though nowhere near his level of skill. That was made obvious by the fact that Itachi wasn't here with them, because he was on the fast track to graduate by the end of the year. Not quite the Hatake's record, but he'd entered the boy too late for that, because Mikoto had flatly stated she'd kill him if he'd registered the boy when he was four. Besides, the Hatake had been forced to return to the Academy at one point after his accelerated graduation after there was an...incident. Seven was a bit more of a stable age for an Academy graduation, and more than young enough to give him bragging rights in regards to his son.
Watching as the children struggled with the simple problem he'd put up, a problem Itachi would've had solved in under a minute, he realized that he had his work cut out for him. The previous Instructor may have let this class slide, but he was going to make sure the brats minded him, even if he had to liberally use his Sharingan to do so. A few Hell Viewing Genjutsus, and...Well, they wouldn't be out of their depth if they got hit with one in the field.
Eventually, lunch came around and he discovered IT's minders had only packed a bottle for IT and nothing else. Darkly muttering under his breath because he'd have to share his lunch, since IT was too old to be satisfied with just baby formula for a meal, he picked IT up and carried IT to the teacher's breakroom with him. Grabbing the bento that Mikoto had put more effort than usual in making that day, he sat down at a table and set IT down on the table next to him, corralling IT with gradebooks sot IT wouldn't wander off. As soon as IT was settled, he opened the bento, snagged a bite of the rice which had been molded into the shape of a bunny with his chopsticks, and fed it to IT.
"Why are you feeding the Demon?!" one of the Instructors for whom it was also lunchtime asked.
"Are you a parent?" he asked, looking at the man who looked old enough to have a child or two of his own. Since they were among people who knew, he decided to let that "Demon" comment slide.
"Yes." the man replied, studying him carefully as if he were a threat and moving into a defensive stance, which stung since they were both Konoha shinobi and one should not even think to guard against a comrade.
"Then, I'm certain you know what a toddler is like when it has not been properly fed." he replied coldly.
The man winced at this.
"Why isn't that Hyuuga brat feeding it like he usually does?" the man asked, recovering from whatever minor flashback he'd just suffered.
"Because the boy is a child who doesn't realize that a child the Uzumaki's age requires more than a bottle of slightly off formula for sustenance." he replied as he grabbed another bite of food and fed it to the child who had been about to reach into his bento with it's sticky little slobber covered fingers on its own.
If everyone is like this, he thought as he watched his colleagues suspiciously watch him, It's going to be a long year.
Edited 7-18-15 Edited 9-5-16.