Chapter Text
Iruka waved goodbye to the other workers in the mission room. It had been a long day, longer than usual, with all of the more self-righteous shinobi deciding to make an appearance to pick up assignments and turn in reports, and he wanted nothing more than to recline on the couch with a good book while ignoring the grading he needed to do. Iruka made his way downstairs at a quick pace, determined to leave before one of the other administrators saw him and asked for a favor or for help with the filing system or some other nonsense. He managed to make it to the door without interruption, but then his stomach rumbled as he stepped across the threshold, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast that morning. He paused in the evening light, and then on a whim decided to turn towards the training fields instead of his apartment.
“Maybe Naruto will be in the mood for ramen when he’s done training,” Iruka mused to himself. Then he huffed out a laugh. “Who am I kidding, of course he will be.”
He wandered through the village, greeting people he knew and chatting with a few of his students’ parents, until he was at the training fields. He then continued walking until he reached the back fields that Team 7 typically utilized. When he got there, he saw that Naruto was jumping around excitedly and flapping his arms like an outlandishly big, orange bird. Kakashi was doing his usual eye smile, Sakura was squealing happily, and even Sasuke seemed to be feeling some kind of emotion. Iruka stopped at the edge of the field, not wanting to interrupt the moment.
As if sensing his presence, and knowing him he probably had, Kakashi tilted his head and sent a casual wave in his direction. Naruto caught sight of the movement and spun around to see who his jounin sensei was waving at, and when he saw Iruka he jumped even higher.
“We’ve got to go celebrate, Iruka-nii, believe it!” he yelled across the field.
Iruka took that as an invitation and started making his way to the center of the flat grassy area. “What are we celebrating?”
Naruto opened his mouth to answer, but Sakura beat him to it. “Iruka-sensei, I successfully cast my first genjutsu!” she squealed gleefully.
Iruka’s eyebrows rose up, and then went even higher when Kakashi added, “And on me, no less. It was quite impressive.”
Sakura blushed at the compliment, but sobered up a tad. “He broke it immediately.”
“But Sakura, that’s still amazing!” Iruka praised. “And just because Kakashi-san released it quickly doesn’t make your achievement any less impressive. Just casting a genjutsu successfully at all is a big first step, definitely worth celebrating!”
Sakura quickly regained all her previous confidence, holding her fist up determinedly. A ferocious glint shone from her eyes, hinting at some of the inner thoughts tumbling around her brain.
“We should get Ichiraku Ramen!” Naruto said as he sidled up to Iruka with pleading eyes and his hands clasped together.
Iruka pursed his lips. That had been the original plan, but… “We should let Sakura decide where we eat since it’s her accomplishment we’ll be celebrating.”
Naruto’s face fell, but he immediately thought better about it. “That makes sense,” he admitted, turning to face the pinkette. “So, Sakura-chan, where to?”
Sakura scuffed her foot in the dirt, eyes darting from Naruto to Sasuke, who seemed to be entrenching himself a bit further into his gloomy facade than usual. “Ichiraku’s is fine,” Sakura decided a bit hesitantly after it was clear Sasuke wasn’t going to give any input.
“Yes! Let’s go!” Naruto jumped several feet into the air and started jogging towards Konoha’s village center. Sakura followed after him with Sasuke bringing up the rear.
Iruka stepped forward to follow the trio, glancing at Kakashi as he did. The jounin hadn’t moved. “You coming?” Iruka asked.
Kakashi shrugged casually, but the quick way he immediately fell into step next to Iruka betrayed his eagerness. That, along with the happy crinkles next to his visible eye, were the equivalent of a dog wagging its tail.
Kakashi had become a permanent fixture whenever Iruka invited all of Team 7 out to eat and, sometimes, when it was only Iruka and Naruto, as well. Iruka had grown to look forward to the moments he got to spend with the mysterious jounin. He always tried to make it known to the silver-haired man that he was welcome and wanted, that his company was enjoyed maybe even a little too much by Iruka. However the message never seemed to sink in because unless he was explicitly invited he would slink away with the visible quarter of his face displaying such dejection that it was almost palpable. Now though, Kakashi practically had a bounce in his step as he and Iruka trailed after the three genin. The chuunin noticed with a tinge of amusement that Kakashi was walking so close to him that their elbows kept brushing.
As they emerged onto one of Konoha’s crowded main streets, Kakashi drifted closer to him, pressing their arms warmly together. Figuring that the jounin was likely jumpy about knocking against strangers in the crowd, Iruka didn’t think twice about it. As they walked along, he caught a glimpse of Raido and Genma emerging from a weapons shop. He waved at them cheerfully and the two jounin both waved back. Iruka decided it was his imagination when he thought he saw Genma’s eyes lingering curiously on Kakashi and him, as well as when Kakashi seemed to glower at the shaggy-haired man. Any other possible explanation would get Iruka’s hopes up too much considering he was fairly certain Kakashi saw him as nothing more than a relatively new friend.
Making the decision to distract himself from that train of thought, Iruka cleared his throat. “Um, Kakashi-san.”
Kakashi’s charcoal gaze flicked over to him, almost failing to keep up the facade of laziness with how quickly his attention shifted. “Yes, Iruka-sensei?”
“I just wanted to thank you for, um, teaching Sakura genjutsu.” He scratched at the edge of his scar realizing that he was probably sounding a bit overinvested considering she was no longer his student.
Kakashi blinked. “Of course I’m teaching her genjutsu. She has real potential for it and her chakra control is phenomenal. Not to mention the mission in the Land of Waves forced me to see that I need to start pushing all of them to specialize their skills.”
Both of their gazes drifted down at the reminder of the mission that’d had the potential to go so deadly wrong.
Iruka rubbed at the back of his neck, feeling the loose hairs that had fallen out of his ponytail throughout the day. “Be that as it may, I still feel the need to thank you, and to apologize. I’m not sure if Lord Hokage told you, but I didn’t want you taking over Team 7 at first. Instead, I recommended Kurenai-san.”
Kakashi dug his hands deeper into his pockets and the warmth dissipated from Iruka’s arm as the jounin put some space between them. “Maa, he may have mentioned something along those lines.”
Iruka nodded, unsurprised. “I especially thought she would be good for Sakura since she’s a genjutsu specialist and Sakura has always excelled in that area. I’m a bit ashamed to admit it, but when I found out you’d be in charge of Team 7 I was convinced that you would end up favoring Sasuke because of your Sharingan and the other two would be neglected as a result.” Iruka grimaced at how much he’d underestimated the other man’s integrity. “This is one time that I am very happy to admit I was wrong.”
Kakashi seemed to loosen back up at that statement. In fact, he even let out a soft huff that could almost be called a chuckle. “I’m sorry sensei, you were what ? Could you say that again? I must’ve heard wrong.”
“You heard me perfectly and you know it!” Iruka laughed. He jabbed a finger towards Kakashi’s chest. “And don’t go telling anyone what I said. I’ll deny it, and they’ll just think you’re crazy!”
“Your secret is safe with me.” Kakashi yanked his hands out of his pockets and raised them up in surrender, eye upturned in a smile.
“Good,” Iruka responded light-heartedly. By that time, they had nearly reached Ichiraku.
Naruto waved and yelled, “I’m going to order your usual for you, Iruka-nii!”
“Sounds good!” Iruka called back. He glanced at Kakashi. “We better hurry if you want to get your order in with the others.”
“I’m not in a hurry,” Kakashi stated. “Besides, it’s my turn to pay.”
Iruka frowned, but kept his thoughts to himself. Somewhere along the way Kakashi had decided that they were taking turns when it came to paying for Team 7’s outings. Iruka saw his point, but couldn’t fully get behind it considering he was always the one inviting the other to come. Kakashi wouldn’t hear it though, and had begun resorting to underhanded tactics to ensure he paid every time he claimed it was his turn. Iruka had finally decided to save himself the trouble and accept the new setup. The only thing more infuriating than Kakashi’s stubbornness was the fact that Asuma refused to believe that the silver-haired jounin was actually fighting to pay for food instead of taking advantage of a free meal at Iruka’s expense.
When they reached Ichiraku’s, they slipped into their usual seats, Iruka next to Naruto and Kakashi on the chuunin’s other side so he could eat in relative peace without being harassed about his face. Kakashi quickly settled comfortably onto his stool, immediately leaning against the counter and angling his body towards Iruka. Iruka meanwhile used the opportunity to glance hungrily at the jounin’s toned forearms, one of the only parts of the man’s body that was on display. And a fine display it was, he decided as the muscles flexed under pale skin when Kakashi adjusted his position.
Unfortunately, Iruka was quickly distracted by the smell of cooking food wafting over the counter. His stomach growled loudly enough to be heard by everyone in the surrounding area, and he quickly pressed a hand to his abdomen to stifle the sound. Before he could comment on his obvious hunger, an argument taking shape on his left dragged his attention away once again.
“Sasuke, you should be happy for Sakura-chan! Stop moping like you’re angry!” Naruto demanded, eyes squeezed almost shut in his determination to defend Sakura’s happiness.
“Naruto, don’t pester Sasuke!” Sakura snapped reflexively.
“I’m not going to let him be all gloomy when you did something so cool, Sakura! You’re awesome and he should see that!” Naruto had nearly clambered onto the counter in order to get to a vantage point to see past Sakura and growl at Sasuke.
The Uchiha grumbled under his breath. “I am happy for her,” he forced out between gritted teeth. His arms were crossed and his fingers dug into his skin hard enough that they were sure to leave bruises.
Iruka reached out, about to tell Naruto to leave the other boy alone, but then Naruto leaned forward more, out of his reach. Sakura screeched, yelling at the blond for invading her space, but Naruto was too intent on Sasuke’s depressed attitude. Then, in a leap of logic that was rare for him, Naruto cocked his head to the side and said, “You dummy, just because you haven’t fully unlocked your Sharingan and started using it to do weird genjutsu stuff doesn’t mean you’re falling behind!”
Iruka gaped at Naruto, impressed that he’d seen the probable reason behind the Uchiha’s sulking. Sakura fell silent. Sasuke whipped his head to the right to glare at the other boy. Even Kakashi seemed to have frozen in place on Iruka’s other side.
“What did you say, dobe?” Sasuke’s voice was ice cold.
“I said you’re not falling behind,” Naruto repeated.
Sakura scooted her stool back as Sasuke turned to fully face the blond.
Completely oblivious to the murderous intent wafting off the dark-haired boy, Naruto continued, “What Sakura-chan did is awesome! But just because she did something cool doesn’t make you any less awesome, believe it!” An odd, red flush started creeping up Naruto’s ears. “I mean think of all the stuff you can do! You know Fireball Jutsu and can do Shuriken Jutsu; you’re really good at most things– almost as good as me! All the girls go crazy over you, which I still don’t understand… You jumped in front of Haku’s senbon barrage to save me! But– but don’t be getting any ideas from all this! You’re still the worst, but I just think it’s dumb for you to be all gloomy when we’re supposed to be celebrating.” By the time Naruto was done, he was tugging self-consciously on the hem of his jacket.
Iruka could feel a bubble of pride rising in his chest. Sakura was just staring at Naruto completely flabbergasted. Sasuke’s bruising grip on his arm loosened and he smirked. “Thanks dobe.”
“Sasuke-kun,” Sakura said, finally finding her voice, “you should have said something–”
She was cut off by an excited yell from Naruto as Teuchi placed their orders in front of them. When Naruto turned to devour his ramen, Iruka noticed that the red from his ears had also covered the entirety of his face. A glance at Sasuke revealed that while he wasn’t anywhere near as red, a blush had also popped up on his cheeks. It was light enough to be disguised as the heat from the steaming bowl of ramen in front of him.
Iruka shook his head in amusement as his own order was set down in front of him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kakashi watching him curiously.
“What’s so funny, sensei?”
“Young love,” Iruka replied quietly. He nudged Kakashi teasingly with his elbow. “It’s always fun to watch, don’t you think?”
“Young love?” Kakashi echoed.
Iruka dipped his head to slurp up a few noodles. “Well, maybe not love,” he admitted once he’d swallowed. “It’s a bit too early for that. But it’s at least a mutual crush.”
Kakashi’s entire body seemed to jerk. “A mutual crush? Between who?”
Iruka froze with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth and stared incredulously at the jounin. “You’re kidding, right?”
At Kakashi’s telling silence, Iruka sighed and let his noodles fall back into the broth. “And they call you a genius,” he muttered. “Nope, I’m not even going to tell you. You’ll have to figure this one out for yourself.”
He determinedly stared down into his bowl, resolutely ignoring the impressive one-eyed puppy dog look that the silver-haired man was giving him. It wasn’t his fault that the supposed genius’s social awkwardness led to him missing cues. On the bright side, his obliviousness to his genins’ feelings likely meant he hadn’t caught on to Iruka’s growing crush on him either. Or if he had noticed, he’d chosen to flirt back in peculiar and aggravating ways, and while that would explain a lot of their interactions it was just as likely, if not more so, that the Copy Nin liked to annoy all his friends and got depressed when he thought they were ignoring him. Jounin were known to be rather eccentric after all.
Still though, Iruka made a mental note to himself: in the unlikely event that he decided to act on the feelings he was developing for the Copy Nin, he was going to have to be really, really obvious about it. Of course, being rejected by the most famous shinobi in Konoha wasn’t exactly high on his to-do list, so figuring out how to make sure Kakashi didn’t misinterpret his confession wasn’t something he’d likely ever need to do. And with that slightly depressing thought, Iruka polished off the rest of his ramen.