Iruka's Family

Chapter 2

It was almost 3 years ago when he first met Naruto. Beforehand the boys previous teacher gave him a talk on what to expect.

"The kid is a real troublemaker, a handful, glad I don't need to deal with him." The man had said. He looked almost excited to get rid of the kid. "Just ignore him and he will pip down."

Iruka had tried to mentally prepare himself for this moment. At the time, all he could think about was the 9-tails, his parents, and the fact that "it" was not paying for its crimes. He promised he would not do anything rash, this was still a child.

The day came and Iruka turned to see his first group of children he had ever taught solo. He'd been an assistant teacher before. But never had his own class. The kids scrambled in, excited for the lesson. There were a few exceptions, but Iruka was hopeful.

"Alright settle down, welcome, I'm Obino Iruka. I will be teaching you for the next few years." He wrote his name on the board, then turned to the class once more. "Let's all introduce ourselves!" Each kid went around saying their names, then finally, a scrawny 6 year old boy, blond, blue eyes, and whiskers spoke up.

"I'm Naruto Usumaki! I'm going to be Hokage, Believe It!" Iruka didn't realize it, but he scowled at the boy. The kid immediately shrunk in his seat and looked to the ground. Iruka didn't mean it either, but he just couldn't stop thinking about it. The day went on, and the whiskered boy continued to make trouble, Iruka ignored him, giving warning looks and then proceeding with class. At the end of the day, the boy was the first to rush out. That was Iruka's first day with Naruto.

The days turned into weeks and soon a whole 2 months had passed. Iruka's interactions with Naruto had not changed, and despite it all Naruto continued to misbehave. The kids had started to avoid him, mostly because he was loud and was horrible with his studies. That's what Iruka told himself. In truth, Iruka's anger and resentment would have probably continued if it was not for that day. That day changed everything.

It was a cold early afternoon, school had just gotten out and Iruka was making his way back to his classroom. As he came closer he started to hear taunting. Then as he almost reached the door 3 older students raced out. He almost called out to them to ask what happened. But decided against it. They must have just been having fun in his classroom.

He walked through the doorway to see a small blond boy licking his wounds. He had been punched in the face, and blood was coming out his nose. Iruka looked at the scene stunned. The boy saw him standing there and stood up abruptly, making his way to the door.

"Hey! Come back here!" Iruka yelled, grabbing the boy's arm. The boy flinched and started to cry.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I sorry." The boy repeated over and over between hiccups and tears. Iruka let go of the boy immediately, but that seemed to make it worse. The crying child stood there, like he was waiting for something. Iruka got down on his knees.

"What happened?" The boy looked at him and then muttered.

"It's my fault."

"How so?"

"I was in here and should not have." The boy could barely say the sentence. For the first time, Iruka looked at him and saw a 6 year old, not the 9-Tails. He got up and grabbed the classroom's first aid kit and came back over.

"Can I?" He asked, the boy looked surprised, but sat down. Iruka did his best to wipe the tears and began to tend the wounds. They were silent the whole time. At the end the boy got up and ran out the door. Iruka was not sure what to think. All he knew was that he needed to find the name of those kids.