16 Varying Degree of Reactions
As they watched their village leader carry the red headed boy away, the three who stayed back all had different thoughts surrounding their minds.
*Sigh*
Calming down, Inoichi turned to face the dazed instructor and spoke to him. "Iruka-kun, I'll take my leave as well. Come princess, let's go home"
Snapping out of his daze, Iruka responded.
"O-of course Inoichi-sama. Please have a safe trip back" He said as he nodded towards the man.
"Bye, Iruka-sensei" Ino said as she waved. Iruka also responded with his own.
Along the way, Inoichi couldn't but think about the son of their fourth Hokage. He didn't think the treatment of the village was so bad to the point of eliciting such a reaction from the boy.
He could tell nothing from the boy's breakdown was faked. It all came from the bottom of his heart. All his anger, frustration, and depression released in one go. He could tell the boy was suppressing such emotions for a long time.
'Well, at least he got it all out' Inoichi thought. It was better to let it all out than to bury in deep inside yourself. He should know, his clan deals with delving into the minds of others.
'Still... I'm going to have trouble sleeping tonight...' His psyche was shook. Even more knowing that the boy was the same age as his darling princess. Imagining his daughter in Naruto's position caused his heart to ache.
His face curled into disgust at how adults would treat a child. It might be hypocritical for him to act as such since in the world he lived in, children were getting sent to battlefields and trained to kill. Hell, he was one of those child soldiers.
But that was years ago, it was peaceful now. No matter how fragile it was, it was still better than when he was a kid. No matter how fragile, it was the peace he and his comrades fought for. No child should be suffering in his village right now.
He sighed for what felt like the hundredth time as he glanced at his daughter. He observed her sad look as well as the faint tearing in her eyes.
Placing his hand on her head. It cause her to look up to meet his gaze.
"Whatever you do, make sure you befriend the poor kid. He could use a friend" He said lightly as his words ignited something in his daughter's eyes.
"Yes! I will daddy, you can count on me! Once Yamanaka Ino swears something, she'll see things through!" She said with determination that caused the older man to laugh.
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Apart from the father-daughter duo, two other people had similar reactions. One silver haired anbu and last but not least, the academy instructor, Umino Iruka.
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As he gathered the things of Uzumaki Naruto, his sensei's son. Many different things were muddling up the mind of the anbu.
The anbu in question was Hatake Kakashi, the famed 'Kakashi of the Sharingan'. A fearsome A-class shinobi wanted in the bingo books.
'Why am I so useless?'
'Why didn't I do anything?'
'Would Sensei or Nee-san be disappointed in me?'
'Rin.. Obito... what would they think of me?'
These were the questions that plagued the young anbu as he gathered the few things of their village's pariah.
*poof!*
Sealing everything in a storage scroll, Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Appearing on top of a building as he overlooked the village through the eye cut outs of his porcelain mask.
But if one looked through them, they could see eye's filled with sadness and self-disgust as a stream of tears made it's way down the man's face.
'Huh? I'm crying again..?' He thought as he took a moment to fix himself.
As long as he could remember it, Kakashi's life has been nothing but a downward spiral. Most of his significant friends or family are all dead.
His mother? dead. His father? suicide.
Just those alone plagued him. Growing up, he was often ridiculed by the other shinobi because of the actions of his father. A failure of a shinobi. Breaking the rules to save a friend and ultimately failing the mission.
But how ironic that the person his father saved was one of the people that ridiculed him. To the point where his father committed suicide.
He was angry at his father then, but as he grew up he began to understand. Especially after the deaths of his comrades. Especially after what happened to Obito. He no longer blamed his father.
Shaking his head.
His closest friend is dead. His other close friend in the form of Nohara Rin also committed suicide. What's more, she borrowed his attack to take her own life.
Then his second family figures. His sensei, Namikaze Minato and his nee-san, Uzumaki Kushina. Both are dead as well.
All these caused Kakashi to close his heart, fearing that if he got too close with someone, they too would leave him.
But after seeing his sensei's son, he couldn't help but think if he made a mistake.
He's been in the same position. Mocked, ridiculed, disdained. Yet the kid had it so much worse than him.
"Maybe... it's time to quit the anbu..." He told no one in particular as he left to deliver the red head's things.
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Meanwhile, Umino Iruka was also a little shook by his student's breakdown. He stood inside his bathroom as both his hands were gripping the sink.
It would be a total lie if Iruka said that he like Naruto. At the first time he saw his name on his roster, Iruka knew he wouldn't get along with the boy.
In fact, like many other instructors. He outright despised him. Going as far as to not teach the boy or ignore him. The monster sealed inside the boy was what took away his parents after all.
But slowly he started to see the so called boy in a different light.
From the first year of teaching the boy to the current time period. He slowly saw as the boy who was desperate for attention, the boy who wanted a friend, slowly close his heart.
From the smiling face he saw for the first few months turn into the indifferent, stoic, and calculative look that he now sports.
Iruka once remembered seeing the boy desperately write down notes on his notebook. Listening diligently to his lecture as he burned everything into his mind.
Day after day, minding his own business. Iruka would see the boy observe the class. He saw many different emotions of the boy named Uzumaki Naruto. Slowly Iruka without realizing started to include Naruto into his lectures.
Even going as far as asking the boy if he had answers and even answered him.
Though now, after witnessing the boy cry his heart out. Iruka was a little dazed.
"He... is human too... what more, he's just a kid..."
Gritting his teeth. The academy instructor washed his face with cold water as he questioned himself. He looked at his face in the mirror.
"Damnit Umino Iruka! Why did you want to be an academy instructor in the first place?! You had no talent in being a ninja ,so you settled for teaching the young ones instead, like how the third hokage once taught you!" He snapped as he punched the bathroom mirror.
"You swore you would teach the new generation... but here you are ignoring your own student!" He yelled as he looked at his reflection through the cracked mirrror.
"Get it together you... There's still two years left before graduation" He told himself.
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Chapter End
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a/n:
If it is not already painfully obvious, this is an AU. AU meaning alternate universe. Its mostly the same as canon with only a slight few changes. I'm guessing you guys already seen the obvious ones.
One is obviously Naruto.
The others are being Iruka and Kakashi.
Since Naruto wasn't like his canon counterpart, there have been very few interactions with Iruka since this version of him does not like trouble. Hence forth they have never bonded, Iruka however is very observant. He is a teacher so he'll obviously see changes in his students, even the ones he hates. If you go back to ch 1, you could see that Naruto questions his existence. He's desperate, at 6-8 years old when he enrolled to the academy, he still had that mindset so he went out of his way to try to make friends which obviously backfired but Iruka seen that. As a teacher, Iruka has seen the evolution and changes between the shy and afraid Naruto to the current one.
As for Kakashi. In this version, he has never really recovered from depression. After his many setbacks he decided to just close his heart. After all, the deaths of his parents and friends, as well as his sensei and other parental figure Kushina are dead as well. Here he is still in the anbu and very much depressed unlike his canon counterpart. Also yes, his strength is also superior to his canon counterpart. At least the one shown in part 1.
Hope this clears some confusion and also, I know there's alot of drama but bear with it for now...
Author out.
