Chapter Text
Iruka kneels on the snow as Naruto runs up to him, yelling as always.
He picks up his student and swings the boy around in a wide circle as Naruto screams with joy. Naruto may be his loudest and most troublesome charge, but it doesn't matter a bit. Iruka can't help but have favourites and his sensei's son is more than a responsibility, more than a student.
Naruto is family.
He tosses Naruto once more for good measure before swinging the boy onto his shoulders. "Okay. You've got a good grip?"
"YES!" Naruto shouts right in his ear but Iruka doesn't even wince, very used to the Uzumaki style after his time as Kushina-sensei's student.
"Bring him back by sunset! And Yuma-sama too!" Kushina waves them off. "Minato is making sukiyaki!"
Just the thought of Minato-san's cooking is enough to make his mouth wet and Iruka nods a quick agreement as Naruto cheers. "Yes, sensei!"
He grips the boy's ankles tightly and jumps into the trees but, by the time they get to the Uchiha compound, Naruto is noticeably tired from using chakra to stick to him. It's a good exercise for the children to learn, it requires little chakra and teaches both precision and subtlety, but their chakra reserves are small and they're quickly exhausted.
There's a reason the younger years at the Academy nap a lot.
Iruka kneads chakra, sending out a burst and quickly sorting through the impressions that he gets back.
As he expected, Yuma-sensei is with the children and he heads that way.
When Iruka gets to the training hall, he finds that Yuma-sensei is just settling the clan children who are too young for the Academy down for a mid-morning sleep and he borrows a futon. Naruto's blond head stands out, surrounded as he is by black haired Uchiha, but he settles down with no more than a few strokes of his forehead.
Iruka stands up to find Yuma-sensei watching the children fall asleep, a fond smile on his usually stern face, and he beckons Iruka outside onto the engawa.
Iruka follows, making sure that his steps are audible on the tatami.
These sleeping children may be young, just taking their first steps on the road to being shinobi, but they're already sensitive enough to their environment that soundless steps will feel like a threat to them. It's a sad truth, but that paranoia may very well save their lives one day and those instincts are best instilled young. And, if any of them grow up to take a civilian path, well.
An awareness of the world around them won't hurt.
"Iruka." Yuma-sensei keeps his voice low but doesn't whisper, and for exactly the same reasons that Iruka made noise when walking. "Have you thought about my offer?"
"Yuma-sensei, you know I have." Iruka rubs at the back of his neck. "I'm just not sure that I'm the right person for the job. There are other teachers, many of them who have been at the Academy for longer. Why me?"
"There are many reasons." Yuma-sensei kneels on a zabuton, looking out over the garden that separates the training hall from the training field. "You're good with children, you have a natural instinct for them, your patience is remarkable but you're capable of being firm... those are all good qualities that I see in you. However, there are two things that make you the clear choice, above everything else."
Iruka folds himself down at Yuma-sensei's side, keeping his eyes on his teacher rather than on the naked branches of the trees. "And they are?"
"The less important one is that Sakumo-sama will be retiring within the next few years. Probably not next year, but he certainly won't be Hokage for more than another five years." Yuma-sensei smiles slightly. "And we all know who his chosen successor will be."
Oh yes. Iruka's smile matches his sensei's. Everyone knows.
"You are mated to Kakashi-kun, part of the Hatake pack, and you would be invaluable as part of the support structure for the next Hokage."
That's... true.
Ever since the founding of the village, the tradition has always been for the Hokage to have a network of trusted people to support them in the role. Hashirama-sama and Madara-sama had their brothers, their wives, their families. Kagami-sama had his students. Sakumo-sama has had Chiasa-sama, Orochimaru-sama, Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama. The next Hokage will need the same.
It chafes to be chosen because of who he is mated to but Iruka understands the call of duty.
"At the same time, that is not the most important reason." Yuma-sama puts a gentle hand on his shoulder and Iruka feels his eyebrows rise. "You have love to give, enough for the entire Hatake pack and an Uzumaki sister of choice that you haven't seen for over two decades. I think that heart is big enough to encompass all the children in the village as well."
Faced with confidence like that, there's only one thing Iruka can say.
"I accept." Iruka covers Yuma-sensei's hand with his own. "I'll do my best and thank you for having faith in me."
"Of course. Don't worry, you'll do well." Yuma-sensei smirks. "Believe it."