Chapter Text
Izumo and Kotetsu were worried about their friend Iruka. He had always been a secretive guy, struggling to make connections. They’d practically adopted him as their pet introvert in junior high, and then things had changed. Iruka had gotten darker, quieter, and had to fight harder to reach a good place. When he got his job as a teacher, they were glad for him. He got into The King’s Hound, and the two of them never had, but they appreciated what it did for him.
Among his things, Iruka left them a computer open to a ton of tabs about the King’s Hound, including one on a “revision” of the book. The two of them sat down and read it together, and knew that it wasn’t Iruka writing them. They skipped the body of the text, starting with the most recent chapter and working their way backward. It was clear that it was about their Iruka. He was everywhere in the text.
The most recent chapter, which they read first, covered the conversation that Iruka and Kakashi had had, and the call to them as well. It was incredibly strange to read this book, anonymously posted online, describing their exact conversation with a close friend.
“Jeez,” Izumo muttered, scrolling back up to the reunion between Kakashi and Iruka. “They’re gay for each other. Why didn’t he mention that?”
They scrolled down and found a loosely described return to Kakashi’s world. They landed in Tsunade’s garden, and Naruto was there, waiting.
Eight years old– Iruka had missed a lot, Kakashi mused. A montage ensued of everyone welcoming Iruka back, and the couple skimmed it. They stopped at the mention of Jiraiya’s name, surprised to see it as Kakashi was to see Jiraiya giving Iruka some respect. Jiraiya gave a very long explanation of the mechanics of bringing Iruka back to their world, and the potential for more cross-world transport.
Finally, when he and Kakashi were alone again, Kakashi described Iruka looking out to the side and speaking thusly; “Alright, I think that’s enough watching us. Stop writing this revision, the story’s over. I prefer privacy over publicity.”
“Who are you talking to??”
“It wasn’t just the original book. There was a revision too. Well, it might prove to my friends I wasn’t lying about this whole thing, but as I said: privacy is important.”
“As you say.” Kakashi responded, confused.
So the revision ended there. In the comments, people were freaking out about this reversal of genre from classic fantasy to bordering on bl to isekai. Izumo and Kotetsu looked at each other. It shouldn’t be so hard to find an Umino Iruka in modern day Japan— so they shared the fact that he's their friend, that he’s missing. They shared the missing persons report they filed, and it became a whole thing, with people wondering if he’s the author and what happened to him and whether this was a publicity stunt.
Izumo and Kotetsu had to wonder.
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The revision ended, but Iruka and the rest of them didn't. Their lives plodded along, and Iruka was blind to the future– but wasn’t that a sort of relief? His system window disappeared, and Iruka was just a magical man in a magical world, with nothing inherently special about him. He and Kakashi and Naruto split time between Uzushio and Konoha. Tsunade had moved back to Uzushio as well, though Anko stayed in Konoha with her new friends.
Naruto turned twelve and he wanted to be a knight. For who, what country? For anyone. He just wanted to protect people.
So he was a good kid. Iruka was happy with how he’d turned out, and most of all happy that he was alive.
Iruka became a teacher again, but not like in his prior world. He took on individual students, somewhat more like a tutor than a proper “teacher” to his mind. Kakashi stopped being Hound, even a little bit. He tried writing, knitting, drawing, a million other things, and settled primarily on cooking and carpentry.
The two of them bought a house in Uzushio and in Konoha they stayed with friends. Iruka and Kakashi sat on the balcony of that house, and the world was laid out before them, beautiful and sprawling.
“Maybe we should go out to the mountains again,” Kakashi suggested, laying down his knitting. “Show Naruto where he spent the first year of his life.”
“You’re crazy,” Iruka replied, reaching out to grasp his partner’s hand. “I don’t know how you come up with any of your ideas.”
“I’m glad I understand how you came up with yours.”
“If a person has insider information she should use it to help the most people she can.” Iruka spoke grandiosely, then laughed at himself.
“The cabin at least. He likes talking to the fox, he should know what happened.”
“He does know what happened, we’ve told him all the time.”
“But it should feel more real.”
“Then we’ll arrange it. Twelve year olds like morbid things, all of them.”
“Sure, if you say,” Kakashi paused. “How does it feel now, to not know the future?”
“I never knew the future. Just a future.” Iruka reasoned.
“There’s a difference?”
“Let’s not argue. Of course there is.”