"I want to see a full report on Chakra control after the break." The kids groaned in annoyance at their sensei's sudden need to assign them homework while they would be on vacation. "Do we really have too?" A red-headed seven year old asked, clearly not up to spending her vacation time working on a report that probably wouldn't even be graded. "Yes. And since you seem to be complaining about it it's no longer a 200 word report, but now a 400 word report." Iruka couldn't hide the smile that graced his lips as the entire classroom turned to glare at the small girl that had spoken up.

"Thanks a lot idiot."

"Now we have to write 400 words."

"400 words is so long."

"You idiot! Why couldn't you keep your mouth shut?"

Iruka laughed at the kids sudden interest in telling off the young girl. Clearly it wasn't all her fault that they had to write a longer report, but Iruka just loved messing with these kids. It was really too much fun torturing them with homework that would never be marked. He watched as they continued to bicker amongst themselves amazed at the insults that were conjured up out of seven year old minds.

"Alright that's enough." He interjected not wanting to have this get out of hand. "I don't want you picking on Fujiyama anymore. If I find out that you have then you'll be the ones to write not just one 400 word report, but three 800 word reports. Got that!" Silence engulfed the room, putting everyone who was sitting in a desk on edge. They were afraid of angering their sensei even more, and burdening themselves with unnecessary work. "Before you leave, write a paragraph about chakra control just so you get an idea of what I want on the homework." Groans and the shuffling of papers could be heard throughout the classroom which made him smile. He would miss these little rascals over the break.

As soon as all of them were done he dismissed them, but not before collecting the papers. With a final wave of his hand, the class was dismissed. "And don't forget to do your homework." He shouted over the crowd of thirty plus kids trying to rush out of the classroom.

He couldn't help but chuckle as the classroom was now void of any life but him. Moving back towards his desk, he began to grade the children's papers.

Tap. Tap. Tap

Iruka ignored the tapping he heard and continued with grading.

Tap. Tap. Tap

He paused mid sentence of correcting Fujiyama's chakra control explanation to look in the direction of where the tapping noise was coming from. It seemed upon looking, the sudden tapping noise ceased. Rubbing his temples he cursed under his breath at the tap that seemed to come in three's. Sleep is exactly what he needed.

Tap. Tap. Tap

His eye twitched in annoyance. This had to stop. Iruka rose from his chair and walked over to the window stiffly. There wasn't anyone out there, but gloomy skies and trees. Was he hearing things?

Tap. Tap. Tap

No. He definitely wasn't hearing things. This tapping was coming from around here somewhere, and he intended to find out. He wouldn't be able to grade papers if that tapping was constantly there. Opening the window he stuck his head out and found the source of the tapping noise. His head fell in defeat as his eyes laid upon an energetic teenage boy dressed in orange with small rocks in his hand . "Naruto.." He mumbled, not really up to talking with his favorite ex-student. "Iruka-sensei!" The boy yelled, waving his hands back and forth to catch his attention. As if he couldn't notice Naruto without that hideous orange color. "I'm going to have to tell him to change that color." He said while waving his hand at Naruto. "Can we get some ramen?" He asked with a bright grin on his face.

Leave it to Naruto to only have food, preferably ramen, on his mind. He sighed before answering. "Sure! Let me just get my things." He might as well leave if he wasn't going to get his work done. Naruto would probably bother him until he said yes anyway.

OoOoOo

"How have you been Naruto?" At that question Naruto grinned at him with a mouthful of ramen. "Great! Sakura, Sai and I just completed a mission a couple of days ago. We were supposed to escort this really beautifully lady back to her home which was in the Grass Country. It took longer than expected because she didn't like being carried on anyone's back. We ended up walking the entire way there." Iruka nodded at points to show Naruto that he was listening, but he couldn't help but have his thoughts steered back to a certain person.

Kakashi Hatake.

Why was it that he was killing himself over wanting to know what was under that mask? Was it normal to obsess over someone's face like that. He doubted it, but it just so happened that the student of said teacher was sitting right there in front of him. Maybe if he...

No. He wouldn't do that. That would just be an invasion of privacy.

What if he discreetly eased that question into the conversation? Would that help at all? No. Naruto would definitely be suspicious of him, which he really didn't want at the moment. But as always, his brain never fully caught up with his mouth as he blurted out an embarrassing question. "What about Kakashi-san?" Naruto turned to stare at him with an unreadable expression. "Uhh..." Iruka could have smacked himself at such a silly question.

Now Naruto was staring at him strangely. "What do you mean?" He asked slowly.

"Well...you know... How is he doing?" The end came out a little too high pitched for his liking. As the silence stretched on, Iruka turned his head away, clearly embarrassed at such a question. Stupid brain. How could he have been so impulsive? Next time he was going to think before he just blurted out random questions without fully thinking it over. The silence was killing him to the point where he wanted to leave the restaurant without looking back. "Uhh..I'm sorry. That was such a stupid question to ask. I'm sorry." Iruka hoped that Naruto would accept his apology, but what came out of his mouth shocked him on a whole.

"Say Iruka-sensei." Iruka watched as Naruto turned to stare at him with an expressionless look on his face. "Hmmm…"

"How do you feel about people?" Iruka looked at Naruto with a blank look on his face. Where did this question come from? "Um..Well. What exactly do you mean?"

"I mean…" He paused to slurp on some noodles before continuing. "People... Are you comfortable with…them?" He said slowly as if he was choosing his words carefully. "Well. When I'm with you I feel comfortable, and I'm generally a sociable person. Why do you ask?"

"So...how do you deal with someone that is anti-social then?" He questioned, completely ignoring Iruka's question on a whole. How was he supposed to answer this? He's never really dealt with an anti-social person before. All of his friends were social to the point where people got fed up with their constant chattering. Even if he had encountered an anti-social person he wouldn't have really noticed since he wasn't really the most observant person in the world.

"Who?"

"Does it matter?" Naruto replied a little too bitterly for Iruka's liking. He sighed and pushed his empty bowl away from him. Turning his body so that he was now fully staring at Naruto, he placed his hand on his fluffy blonde hair. "You make them open up."

"I know that." He barked, smacking his hand away much to Iruka's displeasure. "I mean how do you make them open up?"

"Are you talking about Sakura, because if you need help then—"

Naruto's glare instantly shut him up. "You be-friend them even if they clam up. No matter how much they tell you that they don't need any friends you continue to be nice to them and make them feel at ease. Eventually they will open up and begin to trust you. Now Naruto what does this—"

"Can you do me a favor?" Naruto asked, cutting off Iruka's sentence. "Depends on what it is."

"It's….my sensei.."

"Your sensei? You mean Kakashi?" Naruto nodded slowly and his head lowered a bit. "I'm concerned about him." Naruto whispered making Iruka lean in a bit so that he could hear what the blonde was saying. "It's as if he's closing himself up. Ever since Sasuke left he's been nothing but quiet. I'm scared…for him." Iruka felt his chest tighten at Naruto's heartfelt confession. He was worried about his sensei and scared that he can't do anything to help him. Iruka smiled through this though. He was happy that his ex-student cared so much about his current sensei that he would turn to his old one for help. "Don't worry Naruto. I'm sure he'll come around."

"NO! That's the thing. I keep telling myself that, but he seems to be digging such a deep hole that I'm sure it's impossible for him to get out of. Even Baa-chan is worried about him. He also looks like he's losing weight. His clothes just hang off of him and he always has these bags under his eyes…and…and….I—" A sob escaped his lips making Iruka's eyes start to water. "Don't cry Naruto!" He said bringing the boy into a warm embrace. "B-But…I-I can't even d-do anything to h-help him." He cried clutching unto the front of Iruka's shirt. They both just sat there hugging each other, neither one wanting to pull away. Iruka was afraid that if he pulled away Naruto would get up and leave. He couldn't let that happen. What he needed to do was comfort Naruto before sending him home. Who knows what the blonde haired boy would do once out of his reach; especially in this state.

"Sensei." Iruka turned his head downwards to look at the top of Naruto's head. "Will you help him?" His body froze at that question. Would he help him? He had been in his thoughts for the last couple of weeks, but that was for an entirely different reason. "Naruto..." He started, but didn't have the heart to finish. How was he to tell him that he wasn't interested in helping Kakashi. For one he barely knew the man, but then after saying that he felt like a hypocrite. How could he tell Naruto how to make an anti-social person open up, yet here he was saying he barely knew the man. Of course he would have to get to know him. That was the point of friendship, was it not? But in all honesty Iruka didn't want to get to know the silver haired jounin. Something inside of him told him that it would be a very rough ride. After what Naruto had told him, he wouldn't expect the man to be a walk in the park. For some strange reason Iruka knew that Kakashi had a rough past. And he understood, no matter how strange that sounded. Iruka knew that Kakashi was that way for a reason. Maybe he didn't want to be figured out? Maybe he was just waiting for someone to come along and help him? There were so many different possibilities that it made Iruka's head reel. He knew that this was going to be tough. If the man couldn't even open up to his students, what makes you think that he would open up to a complete stranger like himself. It just wouldn't work. Naruto was crazy to have even asked something like this.

But suddenly determination started building up inside of him. What if he was the person that was supposed to come along and help Kakashi? He couldn't just turn that invitation down and risk a man spiraling down into darkness. There was no way that he would let that happen! He would do it. He would help Kakashi and bring that man to happiness. Whether he wanted that to happen or not, Iruka was going to be there and help him no matter what he said. "I'll do it." He replied, a small smile now creeping up unto his face. Naruto looked up at him with a tear stained face, but instead of crying the blonde haired ball of energy squeezed Iruka into a tighter hug as a way of thanking him.

"Thank you so much Iruka-sensei! You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Okay then." He laughed as Naruto pulled away to finish his ramen.

Hopefully this journey wouldn't be that rough, but somehow…he knew it would.