Bathhouse revelations

Chapter 9

It was a beautiful day for the small ninja village of Konoha; it was a hot, cloudless sunny day graced with a soft, pleasant breeze. The kind of day that inevitably urged children to misbehave. But Umino Iruka didn’t have to worry about those kind of things anymore, as the ninja academy little hellions were not his students anymore. Not ever since he had been slacked the previous day. And for the first time since then, he kinda felt glad for it.

The former academy teacher sighed as he stared at the clear azure sky, wondering how was his students’ first day with their new teacher. Somehow, Iruka doubted it was turning out well. Knowing them, the seven year olds were probably testing the substitute’s authority – which could be quite hazardous when the little monsters had sharp, pointy things within reach. Iruka snorted with amusement at the thought. Somehow, he wasn’t feeling that compassionate for his substitute. After all, chuunins were supposed to be able to dodge kunais, weren’t they?

The brown-haired man hoped the man had not been stupid enough to tell the kids he had been fired and wouldn’t come back. He liked to think his ex-students were kinda fond of him - even though some of them had tried to kill him on several occasions - and he highly doubted they would greet the news well. Anyhow, it was only a matter of time before they heard about it from their parents; the rumor was probably already traveling through the village. Soon everybody would know. The chuunin was pretty sure that by the time he was forced to leave his house – for instance Friday evening for his mission room duties – every living soul in the village would be convinced he had been fired because he had been caught doing naughty things in his classroom with Kakashi-sensei or something equally ridiculous. Not that he cared – well, if parents thought he’d been indecent in front of their children, he did but... it didn’t matter much anymore, didn’t it?

Iruka mildly wondered what people would think about his dismissal. No doubts some with agree with the principal’s decision, some always did. But would the others realize how ridiculous this was? How positively unfair it was? There were ought to, Iruka decided silently. Yes, of course, they would. Not that it would change anything, but still. And if people didn’t, then he still had Naruto – he was pretty sure the blond teen would positively have a fit when he’d learn he had been fired. That thought made his lips twitch up into a small smile.

His thoughts went once again to his ex-students, and the chuunin felt a bit bad about those essays he had asked them to write. Five hundred words was a lot for 7 year olds and the chuunin didn’t even know if his substitute would bother correcting them to start with. Because Iruka wouldn’t do it. After all, he was no longer a teacher and thus didn’t have to correct academy students’ work anymore. Moreover, it would make a real mess if he returned to the Academy to grab those – his ex-students would harass him to convince him to come back, his ex-colleagues would harass him to know why he had left and his substitute would harass him to know how to make the little hellions stop throwing sharp things at him every minute or so. Nah, he didn’t fancy going back to the academy any time soon.

Snapping out of his reverie, Iruka’s attention went once again to the pile of paper he was trying to sort out. Those were job-related and Iruka had always kept them safely just in case, but he wouldn’t need them anymore, so he decided to sort them out and store them somewhere in the back of his wardrobe, where they most likely would be forgotten. It felt somewhat surrealist to be doing such a thing... But then, it had felt surrealist to sleep in on a Wednesday morning too. Because Iruka had decided to take things smoothly for a while; after all, he was in no hurry to find himself another job. So he decided to relax a bit – he even seriously considered taking a real vacation, like his students had suggested him. Going to the beach, maybe... Traveling would be nice. He had never seen the sea before, which was kind of ironic when one thought about his name. Yeah, leaving the village for one week or two might do him some good. And then when he’d come back, people might have lost all interest for him and his private life.

Yeah, right.

Taking a real vacation did sound like a good idea, though. But not now. He’d wait a few days to take the time to do some things he’d meant to do for a while, like sorting out his papers or buying himself new clothes – when he tried to find something casual to wear that morning, he had realized how urgent it was for him to go shopping. He had even planned to do nothing of his whole afternoon, sit on his couch and read a book. Then, tomorrow he’d bake a cheese cake – or at least he’d give it a try - and maybe some soup; Iruka’s soups were most of the time acceptable. And he’d invite Naruto over for dinner; he’s been wanting to do that for ages, but his busy schedule almost never allowed him free time with his favourite ex-pupil. Iruka highly doubted his cake would have the same soft, creamy texture and the sweet taste of Kurenai-sensei’s cheesecakes – he had gotten the recipe from her months ago – but he was used to eating his own cooking. Anyway, Naruto wasn’t a difficult person, he had always eaten what Iruka had put on his plate without complains on the very few occasions the blond boy had eaten at his place. But then again, Iruka guessed that his cooking was probably delicious compared to Naruto’s, who had never truly bothered to learn how to cook something else than burned eggs and instant ramen. Maybe he was ought to invite Sakura and Sasuke too...? But then again, he doubted the other teenagers had the same immunity to his cooking.

His chain of thoughts was disturbed by a loud banging sound. Somebody was knocking at the door – or trying to knock the door down, by the sound of it. To avoid having to install new strap hinges, Iruka hurried to the entrance to open the door to a very flustered-looking team seven, closely followed by their infamous and famous silver-haired teacher. News sure traveled fast! He hadn’t been expecting them until the beginning of the afternoon.

“Iruka-sensei!” Naruto burst out at once when the man opened the door, not even leaving him the time to greet them, “Is it true you’ve been fired?”

The three teenagers gazed at him anxiously as if they half-expected him to reassure them, to tell them it was once again just a silly rumor and that they shouldn’t have bothered with it to start with. When he wouldn’t answer, Sakura and Naruto started talking very fast, looking agitated.

“We went to the academy but we couldn’t find you-”

“There were everywhere, it was a real mess-” there was panic in the pink-haired kunoichi’s shrill voice.

“I swear those kids were trying to set the whole school on fire-”

“And then we went to the mission room-”

“They wouldn’t tell us-”

“You’re on a vacation leave, aren’t you?” Sakura’s voice had become aggressive. “Aren’t you?”

She stared at him expectantly, almost threatening him to dare say the opposite, but he knew she was more scared than anything else he would confirm their worst fears. The two other teens were also starting hard at him, Naruto’s still boyish face twisted with a strange mix of anxiousness and anger while Sasuke’s face reminding the chuunin of some hardened criminal awaiting for his sentence to death.

Iruka couldn’t help it; he burst out laughing. He couldn’t help but laugh at the cuteness of their concern. To have them standing there, looking so worked up over something as stupid as this... It was an adorable sight, in some kind of twisted way. The teenagers stared at their laughing ex-teacher warily, seeming somewhat more concerned than before, and Iruka quickly sobered up.

“Don’t stay outside like that, come in,” he motioned the scared-looking teens inside his small apartment. “Let’s talk it over a cup of tea.”

They seemed to want to protest, but then they thought better of it and entered the apartment soberly, the crisped expression on their faces indicating they were prepared for the worst. If they hadn’t been obviously feeling so worried for him, Iruka would have found the whole situation highly amusing, he decided with a small smile.

From behind the teens, the silver-haired jounin approached Iruka, looking mildly uneasy. “Sorry to disturb you sensei, but when they heard about the rumor...”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” the chuunin said with an amused smirk, pretty sure the jounin was just as worried and curious as them. The man seemed to understand Iruka’s light sarcasm because he looked away, scratching the back of his neck with his gloved hand to hide his embarrassment. But maybe he was just feeling shy about entering Iruka’s apartment for the first time, Iruka reasoned out – after all, one’s home was something a bit intimate. At that thought, Iruka felt his own cheeks heathen up a bit.

“Come in; let’s not make them wait,” he said quietly, motioning the older man in. Kakashi seemed a bit hesitant but he entered nonetheless and Iruka followed him, closing the door behind them.

Iruka motioned the silent group to his small kitchen table – he had to fetch more chairs to have enough for all of them – and went to the nearby kitchen to prepare tea. As he was doing so, a gloomy silence reigned over the whole apartment, his visitor apparently not feeling up to small talk. Iruka couldn’t help thinking they seemed to be preparing themselves to attend to his funeral or something equally dramatic and that thought made him smile fondly again, because at that precise moment, it seemed to the ex-academy teacher that he was standing in front of the pre-genin Team seven he used to teach once again and not in front of three nearly adult chuunins. Their overreaction reminded him that Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura might not look and act like children anymore, but they weren’t quite adults yet, something he tended to forget sometimes.

After a few minutes, Iruka came out of the kitchen with five cup of tea. When the chuunin set down Naruto’s tea cup in front of him, the blond young man burst out; it was obvious he had done great efforts to refrain from asking the question that was on his mind but couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“What happened? Did they really fire you?!” the blonde asked hastily, leaning over the table with anticipation. The other nins were staring intensely at Iruka, obviously feeling as eager as Naruto to know the truth. And Iruka smiled at them, feeling calmer than he had thought he would be for announcing them such a thing.

“Why, yes,” the chuunin answered serenely and the teens gaped at him, horror-struck; obviously, they had not expected him to answer that – or perhaps to say it so frankly. On the other hand, their jounin teacher didn't seem shocked at all by the news; he remained expressionless, staring at his host with unreadable eyes.

“But they can’t!” Naruto bellowed indignantly, slamming his fist powerfully on the table, successfully spilling most of his boiling tea on it – but he was too angry to even notice.

“Of course they can, idiot,” Sasuke replied almost automatically, but he looked as indignant as his team mate.

“I can’t believe it! It’s got to be a mistake!”

“Now, now, calm down,” Iruka said peacefully. “It’s not like it’s the end of the world. It’s just a job, afterall. There are things more important than this.” Naruto stared at him like he had grown a second head.

“But you loved that job! Hell, you were probably the only guy in the whole village crazy enough to actually like taking care of those brats! They can’t fire you just like that!”

“You’re the best teacher the academy has,” Sasuke pointed out coolly, and Iruka felt somewhat pleased to hear the normally distant young man praising him like that.

“Yeah!” Naruto insisted loudly, “You’re the best and they know it! How could they possibly fire you, it’s grotesque!”

“Thank you guys, but the Principal probably had his reasons. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I’ll find myself another job soon, so-”

“Sensei,” Sakura asked him slowly, carefully choosing her words, “Do you know why they fired you...?”

For a second, Iruka remained silent. Should he tell them the truth? Previously, he had selfishly longed for Naruto’s indignation, but now that the young man was standing in front of him, his bright blue eyes clouded by worry, he didn’t know anymore if he wanted him to know the frustrating truth behind his dismissal. Around him, Sasuke and Sakura were also staring at him intensely, as concerned as the blond teen, and somehow Iruka realized he didn’t want to upset them too much. Because he was pretty sure they’d go ballistic if he told them what he’d been told by the Principal. Some part of himself didn’t want that; some part of himself wanted them to believe it was a mistake, or that he was on vacation leave.

But then his eyes went to Kakashi. The silver-haired man was watching him quietly, his single gray eye filled with a strange mixture of seriousness and concern. The brown-haired man didn’t want him to worry, didn’t want him to know. Especially since it concerned him. But somehow, he suddenly didn’t have the heart to lie to him. Or to his ex-pupils, as a matter of fact. It would be wrong. Because he knew they truly cared for him, cared about what was happening to him. That thought made him feel oddly warm in the inside and he felt guilty for even thinking about hiding the truth to them.

They at least deserved to know what was going on.

The chuunin gave them a small, calm smile. “Parents requested my suspension after they heard about the rumor that I fancied Kakashi-sensei,” he said simply. “They seem to fear I’d be a bad influence for their children.”

“WHAT!” Team seven roared, their faces suddenly twisted with bewilderment and anger. Well, Sakura and Naruto roared. The raven-haired young man of course did not scream; it was not his way of doing things. His anger flared in his eyes instead, his handsome features twisting in an ugly way with disgust and hatred at the chuunin’s words. Iruka didn’t give them much thoughts though, because he was looking at the silver-haired jounin instead.

Iruka had imagined that the Copy nin would look embarrassed at the mention of the rumor or look indignant, like his students. But instead of that, the silver-haired man remained absolutely still on his seat. The only thing attesting of his shock was his uncovered eye, which was suddenly filled with icing-cold anger. Iruka suppressed a shudder at the sight of that cold, merciless eye and was quite thankful he was not the one who had provoked his wrath.

“How could they!”

“That’s ridiculous! They can’t fire you for that!”

“Those f--n’ jerks can go screw themselves!”

“That’s unfair!”

“They can’t do that, I’m sure there’s some law about satisfactory reasons to fire teachers,” the raven-haired teen said, looking downright determined to prove her ex-teacher still had chances to return to the academy.

“Sasuke-kun is right! That’s got to be against the law!”

“You’re going to fight them, won’t you?” Naruto asked aggressively.

“No, I don’t think so, Naruto,” Iruka answered him honestly.

“But-!” The three teens shot him incredulous looks, looking taken aback once again.

“It’s not worth it. You know,” Iruka took a big breath, anticipating the following outburst, “the Principal actually gave me the choice. I could have stayed - the only thing I had to do was to find myself a girlfriend or a wife.”

The chuunin decided to leave out the part about Kakashi-sensei; it was already bad enough like that, they didn’t need to know that as well. Plus, he didn’t want to sound like he had chosen the jounin instead of the academy; the mere thought of it embarrassed him. At his words, Team seven looked so downright indignant they seemed to be about to bite.

“They wanted you to get a wife?” Sasuke hissed, his teeth clenched.

“How dared they!”

“Iruka-sensei, you can’t possibly let them do that to you!” Sakura pleaded, he voice shaking with frustration.

“We’re gonna help you, we’ll defend you-”

“There’s gotta be a way-”

“You mustn’t give up!”

“Listen,” Iruka spoke up louder, eyeing his ex-students seriously. “That day, I decided I wouldn’t let anyone choose what was good for me and I assume that decision fully. So even if they sack me, I don’t care; I won’t change my mind about it. And you’ve got to respect that decision, even if you don’t agree with it.”

Iruka had expected them to be comprehensive, but he had not expected them to look annoyed at him like that.

“Iruka-sensei, this isn’t about pride!” Sakura said, looking exasperated. “This is about your job!”

“My point exactly; it’s about my job. It’s just a job afterall, there’s no need to make such a fuss about it. I’m pretty sure I’ll find myself a new one soon, so there’s no need to worry about it.”

Although these words seemed to have calmed down a bit the three teens, Team 7 continued to protest and show their support to the brown-haired man for another good 20 minutes - ‘they cannot do that!’-‘They’ll miss you soon!’-‘Heartless bastards’-‘They shouldn’t have kids to start with!’ Iruka listened to them faithfully, a small grateful smile on his lips. All the while, Hatake Kakashi remained silent, looking down at his tea cup. There was nothing contemplative about his look though - there was only cold determination in his eye.

Somehow, Iruka started to fear for the Principal’s life.

When the brown-haired man finally managed to kick them out half an hour later with great difficulty, Kakashi stayed behind just a little while as his students walked away, faking sudden interest for Iruka’s plants. When the teens were out of hearing range, the silver-haired man looked up at him with disturbing seriousness and Iruka felt suddenly a bit uneasy under the man’s intense gaze.

“I’m sorry to see Konoha’s elite cannot tell apart their good people anymore. They’ve lost the best academy teacher they had and they don’t even realize it,” the jounin said quietly, his piercing gray eye still locked on Iruka’s brown ones. “They’ll probably regret it soon enough.”

Iruka felt his cheeks blush from the open compliment, but he didn’t look away. Something about what the jounin had just said was troubling him somehow. As he stared back at the Copy nin, he couldn’t help thinking there was an unvoiced idea behind those words and it worried him.

“I’m touched by your concern,” he answered silently, “but I can watch over myself, Kakashi-sensei.”

The jounin seemed to understand what Iruka had meant to say, but he didn’t seem to agree at all with the ex-teacher’s point of view. He frowned, looking about to say something, but in the end decided against it and turned around, leaving the chuunin’s house silently. Iruka watched him walking away, feeling strangely worried. He hoped the man wouldn’t do something stupid... Slowly closing the door down, Iruka mused about the Sharigan user’s reaction and highly doubted the man would wisely return home after what he’d heard. Hell, he would be damned if him and Naruto weren’t heading straight to the Hokage’s office to complain loudly about his dismissal and request the Principal to be fired for what he’d done... Or worse. The chuunin sighed in defeat at that thought. He really hoped Team 7 and their sensei wouldn’t put themselves into trouble for him, but he was too realist to actually believe it.

Trying to chase away his worries, the brown-haired chuunin went back to sorting out his job-related documents, wondering what he’d cook for dinner...

Iruka then inwardly swore. With all that agitation, he had completely forgotten to invite Team seven for dinner.

--

The chuunin spent the rest of the day sorting out documents and cleaning his small apartment. Toward the end of the afternoon, when he finally finished doing his chores, he sat down on the couch and watched an old movie, relaxing a bit for the first time in a while. But even as he watched the movie, the brown-haired man couldn’t help but think about the three teenagers and their jounin teacher.

When he went to bed that night, Umino Iruka tried not to worry too much about Kakashi-sensei, Team 7, the rumors and everything happening outside his apartment walls. Afterall, he tried to remind himself, he had no control over those things. It was not like he could make people stop talking about him or even refrain Naruto from giving the Hokage a piece of his mind - and more importantly, Kakashi-sensei from doing something even more stupid. There was nothing he could do about it, if not hope that everything would turn out well in the end and that nobody would get hurt on the way.

Before falling asleep, he remembered Team seven’s indignant outbursts fondly, feeling a sudden rush of affection for the teens. He would invite them over for dinner, he promised himself sleepily. Yes, he would bake them a cheesecake...

The next thing he knew, there was a loud banging sound. Waking up with a start, Iruka rapidly scanned the room for possible threats but found none. The banging sound could be heard again coming from the entrance, a little bolder than before. Iruka winced at the sound, rubbing his eyes with his hands tiredly. What time was it? He sleepily eyed his alarm clock with half-closed eyelids; it indicated 11:39 p.m. Closing his eyes again, Iruka growled. Who the hell could possibly want to see him at such a late hour? Whoever it was, he hoped with growing annoyance they had a pretty good reason to be hammering on his front door like that in the middle of the night...!

The visitor knocked again. Feeling frustration building inside of him, the chuunin sleepily got up and went to the front door. If it was Naruto, he swore he’d make him regret to be born, that little...!

Snapping the door open with frustration, Iruka was bewildered to find himself face to face with a pretty blond woman.

“H-Hokage-sama?” he asked with a white voice, his annoyance suddenly forgotten.

“Good evening, Iruka-kun,” the fat-breasted woman greeted him, a tired smile on her lips. Some part of his mind - probably the awake one - reminded Iruka that at such hour, “good night” was more appropriate than “good evening”, but he didn’t voice it out. He simply stared at the Godaime, his still sleepy brain trying to figure out what the Hokage could possibly do in front of his door at 11:39 p.m.

“Good... evening,” he greeted her hesitantly. The woman smiled, but said nothing; she just stood there in front of him silently, as if it was quite normal to wake up people at 11:39 p.m. just to say hi. Obviously, she didn’t seem to feel the need to explain why she was there and somehow, the sleepy and still bewildered chuunin really couldn’t see what she wanted with him to start with. When the silence stretched on and it became obvious the woman wouldn’t speak up, Iruka decided to take matters into his own hands.

Errr,” the chuunin hesitated, not knowing exactly how to phrase his question politely, “I don’t want to be rude, but what brings you here at such a late hour, Hokage-sama?”

“Iruka,” the blond woman said on an almost detached tone, “when you have guests, you shouldn’t let them rot on your porch like that. It’s not polite.”

Iruka blinked at her, dumbfounded. Then he caught on to was she was saying and felt stupid, a blush creeping to his tanned cheeks. “Oh! I’m sorry-”

The chuunin backed down to let the old woman enter and the Godaime walked pass him and casually made her way in his small apartment as if she owned the place, to Iruka’s consternation. Closing the door silently behind him, Iruka followed his visitor into the living room, feeling oddly helpless as he stared at the blonde woman making herself comfortable on his couch. The whole situation felt surreal; the Godaime herself was in his living room! Sitting on his couch! Iruka almost wished he was still in his bed and that all of this was only a very, very strange dream, but he knew it couldn’t be. His dream usually weren’t so weird.

From the living room doorway, he watched the Hokage stretching her long legs comfortably, totally making herself home. She didn’t even seem to realize how strange the whole situation was, to Iruka’s utter bemusement. Looking up at the stunned chuunin, she eyed him expectantly.

“So? Will you offer me something to drink?”

“Oh! Yes, of course,” the chuunin mumbled stupidly and went to the kitchen, hastily preparing two cups of tea. As he was waiting for the water to boil, he thought. Feeling a little more awake than he had been when he had greeted the Godaime, Iruka seriously thought about the reason behind the Hokage’s uncommon presence – because the woman obviously wasn’t there only to enjoy a cup of tea with him. Could this late visit be linked to his dismissal? Probably. Or more precisely, it was probably due to Team seven, he deduced, suddenly feeling worried. What if Naruto had done something stupid? What if Kakashi-sensei had and done something stupid...? At that thought, Iruka felt his throat tighten painfully and he tried to chase away that idea. They knew better, he tried to convince himself... Or at least, they knew better than to get caught. The chuunin prepared their tea silently and headed for the living room, suddenly feeling more anxious than bewildered by the woman’s unbelievable presence.

As he settled down the Godaime’s steaming cup in front of her, the woman grimaced a bit. “Don’t you have something a bit stronger for me, Iruka?”

“I’m sorry Hokage-sama, but I don’t have alcohol at home,” the brown-haired man answered politely as he sat down next to her, guessing it was alright for him to make himself comfortable as well - he was at home, afterall.

“Oh, well. Too bad,” the blond woman sighed a bit sadly, sipping slowly her steaming tea. For a long moment, the Hokage remained silent, taking occasional sips of the drink Iruka had served her. The silence stretched slowly and Iruka felt more and more anxious about what she would announce him. As the ex-academy teacher was about to ask her again what she wanted with him, the woman finally spoke up.

“I’ve had a bad day today,” she said on an dispassionate tone, watching the moon through the living room window. Iruka stared at her, astounded. Surely enough she had not come here to tell him that?! Or if she had, then she wasn’t in her right mind... suddenly feeling a bit wary, the chuunin waited for her to speak up again.

“Do you know why I had a bad day, Iruka?” she asked on the same serene tone. Iruka shook his head, now feeling worried.

“Because I kept on being harassed by all sort of people,” she said calmly, sipping her tea slowly. “Parents, academy teachers, ex-students, mission room staff, random nins - and even a bunch seven year old brats showed up at my office, d’you imagine. All talking at the same time - it was a real mess, I”m telling you. Something about you being fired,” she said casually, sipping her tea slowly. Iruka’s eyebrows raised with surprise and he gaped at her, not believing his ears. But when the blonde woman’s words truly sank in, the chuunin felt a wave of warmth overwhelming him. To think that people actually forced their way into the Hokage’s office to protest about his sacking was... amazing. The chuunin could hardly believe it. Of course, he had known some people would not agree with the Principal’s decision, but he had never imagined that those people would actually fight for him! Somehow, that thought truly moved him, even though it embarrassed him a bit. To make such a fuss about him... It was truly extraordinary.

“There was such an uproar,” the Hokage continued casually, “you should have seen it. People were out of themselves - I must admit that at some point I feared for my safety. Especially when Kakashi showed up; I had never seen him so angry before. It was quite a scary sight... He seems to be quite fond of you, the Hatake brat,” she commented with an amused smirk, winking at the gaping chuunin and Iruka, feeling himself flushing, hastily looked away. Somehow, he was not feeling at ease to talk about his love life with the Hokage, especially since the old woman was way too enthusiast at the prospect of the two men dating. To distract himself, he took a sip at his own tea, feeling Tsunade’s knowing eyes resting on him. Great, now the Hokage thought they were in love... He sincerely hoped she wouldn’t start giving him advices about how to make the jounin fall for him or - he blanched at the mere thought - how to turn him on, because he didn’t know if he’d be able to survive the humiliation.

“But he was not the only one,” she said softly, and Iruka saw her suggestive grin turn into a soft, almost proud smile and felt relieved they were on safer waters. “You know, there are a lot of people who deeply care about you, Iruka-kun.”

The chuunin nodded with a small hesitant smile, still feeling astounded by the news. He could hardly believe all those people had fought for him to start with. He had known Team seven and Kakashi-sensei were ought to pay a visit to the Hokage, but he had never imagined in his wildest dreams his dismissal would cause such a strong reaction. Like Tsunade-sama just said, it showed that even thought most of the village liked to speculate about his private life, he was still appreciated as a person. That thought left him with a pleasant warm feeling.

“I was surprised when I heard the news,” the Godaime spoke up after a while, her smile vanishing from her young features. “Very surprised, indeed. But I guess the right word would be indignant, since I hadn’t even been consulted before your dismissal.”

“I didn’t know the Hokage was to be consulted when it came to hiring or firing academy teachers,” Iruka said with mild surprise.

“Officially, the Principal doesn’t need my approval, but the Council’s,” she explained lightly, “but officiously, it’s quite another thing. When it comes down to t his, it’s a matter of politic and influence... Dokyugo knew it perfectly well.”

The was a long pause and the chuunin remained silent, thinking over what the woman had said. After a while, he wondered if he was supposed to say something. But obviously he was not, as the blond woman soon started to talk again.

“When I finally managed to get out of my office - and convinced Naruto and Kakashi I didn’t need their help persuading a few people - I dropped by the Principal’s place to have a little chat with him. I also paid a visit to a few Council members and parents on my way here.”

By the ironic tone of her voice, Iruka had a fairly good idea what kind of discussion it had been. Oh yes, the woman had been angry. Downright pissed, even. The brown-haired man winced at the thought of an angered Tsunade, who had just been explained by the Principal why he had been sacked, ‘visiting’ the heads of the most famous clans of the village... He was quite glad he hadn’t been there to see it. Quite glad. To think this was all because him, some average chuunin...! It seemed almost impossible. There was another short silence.

“Now, I would understand if you wouldn’t want to teach again at the academy after what happened yesterday,” the Godaime said quietly as she swallowed the rest of her tea. “But if you still feel up to it, I want you to know you can have your post back.”

Iruka stared at her, almost not daring to believe it. But when she didn’t add anything, he realized she had been sincere about it and beamed at her, not believing his luck. He would be able to return to the Academy! He would see those little hellions again, correct homework and give away detentions again...!

The sennin smiled back at him, “I take it we can count on you tomorrow morning?”

The chuunin was about to nod, but then he thought better of it. He could do with a couple more day at home... Afterall, he wasn’t quite sure his students had missed him enough yet...

“Actually, I was wondering if I could take a few days before returning... let’s say, Monday?” he asked tentatively, hoping he wasn’t stretching his luck too much.

“Sure, have a break,” Tsunade smirked, obviously amused. Then she sat up. “Well, it’s been a long day and I think I’ll call it a night. Or maybe I’ll go grab something at the local bar...” she said thoughtfully as she walked toward the door, the chuunin following her, his heart suddenly very light.

When they reached the door, Tsunade turned around and smiled at him. “Well then! Good night, sensei.”

“Good night to you too, Hokage-sama. And... thank you for everything.”

The woman smiled fondly at him, as they both knew he truly meant it from the bottom of his heart.

“Say hi to Kakashi for me,” she said playfully, winking once again at him before opening the door and walking silently into the cool night. But even her suggestive comment couldn’t affect Iruka right then. Because he knew he would return to the academy. He would spend this Sunday afternoon preparing lessons again. He would correct homework and exams again. He would scold his little hellions when they tried to skip class again... He was in such a good mood he felt nothing mattered anymore.

Not even the fact that he had spent the whole morning sorting out work-related papers for nothing.


--------------------

To be continued.