Chapter 6
“I remember many of your parents’ first years here.”
Iruka distinctly heard a groan from his captive audience, and he knew without having to look who it was complaining.
Although, he could understand. He was acting old, and he knew it. Recently he found himself reminiscing fondly about the smallest things, things that should most definitely not bring a smile to his face.
“I’m so proud of how they’ve grown, and I’m sure you will all catch up to them in no time at all.”
He paused.
Time was passing by, and it didn’t feel like his own time at all: It felt like the time of an era that had long passed and faded away, one that existed before the world they lived in knew of war at all.
The claps sounding out in the hall were half-hearted.
A voice called out: “Can we go home now?”
Iruka searched for the culprit and met a pair of round baby blue eyes. He sighed. That certainly hadn’t been the intended finale to his lecture. Still, when faced with a group all under the age of ten, it would be hard to keep their interest for much longer.
“Yes, you may leave now.”
About a quarter of the children at the academy, many of whom Iruka was already familiar with, cheered and leaped from their seats: The rest trickled from the hall in a more orderly fashion.
Boruto had been one of the first ones out the door. Luckily, Iruka knew the school much better than the boy did, for all of his explorations, and was much faster than him. He caught up in no time.
“Boruto.”
“What-” Boruto twisted towards him and a panicked look crossed his tiny face. “Where did you come from?”
“The same hall as you.” Iruka smiled. “Your parents have invited me over for dinner, so I told your dad that I would walk with you.”
Boruto sighed and rolled his eyes, scuffing his feet. Iruka could understand: At the beginning of the academic year, Boruto had rejected Iruka's offer of being walked home, stating that having his grandpa take him home would be embarrassing. But, on his final day, Iruka wasn’t going to let him off.
A gaggle of assorted small children thronged around Iruka’s feet, some he recognized and some he did not. Chouchou and Sarada walked towards the rear of the group for the first few blocks before splitting off, deviating in the direction of Sakura’s house.
In the end, only Shikadai and Inojin were left walking alongside Iruka and Boruto. The usual gentle sounds of the village surrounded them, a gentle bubbling brook in the sunny afternoon, and Iruka's step was light. For once, he was leaving all of his work behind him. Now he was simply determined to relax and spend time with his family.
The peace was interrupted by Boruto yelling and bolting into the distance.
“Boruto! Come back!” Iruka yelled, spinning in his direction.
Before he could take a step in the direction where Boruto had vanished, Shikadai was also racing the same way, and he had grabbed hold of Inojin’s arm to pull him along.
Iruka sighed and traced their steps to the next block over, where he was surprised to find the trio gathered around a broad-shouldered man, heads tipped back to stare.
Of course it was Yamato, Iruka thought to himself.
The man looked somewhat uncomfortable, standing in the middle of the road and penned in by a triangle of kids.
“I thought I saw you between the houses”, Boruto was saying, voice breathless.
“Did you just come back from an important mission?”, Shikadai asked, tilting his head.
Inojin did not speak, but he watched Yamato with an expression he had clearly inherited from his mother, one that could only be described as calculating.
Wide-eyed and earnest, Yamato replied; “Yes, I did, in fact. Very important.”
“Tell us!”, Boruto burst out, and he was bouncing up and down on the spot. “Were there enemies? Did you have to leave the village? Did you go to the Hidden Sand Village? Shikadai’s uncles live there!”
Yamato opened his mouth and closed it again, as though attempting to formulate a response. He opened it again, then glanced up. When he spotted Iruka he closed it once more.
The kids, noticing the shift in his expression, turned to gawk at Iruka.
Shikadai was the first to compose himself. Drawing himself up self-importantly, he announced; “Yamato, this is Iruka-sensei. He’s a teacher at the academy. And Boruto’s grandpa.”
“Duh, he already knows that, dummy.” Boruto rolled his eyes.
“Who are you calling dummy?” He pushed Boruto, and Iruka grasped each of them by the arm to separate them before they can get into a real fight.
Boruto stuck his tongue out and Shikadai rolled his eyes.
Although he tightened his grip slightly, Iruka met Yamato’s gaze over the children’s heads, and the two of them shared a grin.
His attention was dragged away by Inojin, tugging at his pants leg. Once he had glanced down, the blond boy raised his arms. Inojin still loved being held and carried. Iruka hoped he would grow out of it; soon he wasn’t sure if he’d still be able to carry the small blond boy. Years of peace had done wonders for his mind but not so much for his muscles.
“So, where are you guys off to, then?”, Yamato asked amicably, tucking his hands inside his vest and rocking back on his heels in a way that eerily reminded Iruka of Kakashi.
“It was the last day of their first year today”, Iruka explained, fumbling as he attempted to draw Inojin closer to his chest. “I’m taking them home. We’re heading to Shikamaru and Temari’s first; this one is staying there for the evening while his parents are working. Then I’m going to Naruto’s for dinner.”
“Dad said he’d come home early tonight!”, Boruto yelped, bouncing up and down on the spot.
Inojin meanwhile had reached around and was pulling at Iruka's ponytail. Iruka let him pull it out- no use complaining and upsetting them, it was no big deal really- and shook his hair out, making his eyes roll wildly as he does so, a trick from his youth, to make Inojin laugh. It worked; the boy clapped his hands, dropping the hairband in the process.
"I got it!", Shikadai announced. He picked it up and looped it around his fingers, then opened and closed them so that they strained against the band.
"It looks like a monster’s mouth", Boruto said, "Look.”
Shikadai began to chase him along the street and back. Inojin’s hold on Iruka's neck tightened minutely.
“I used to have long hair, too”, Yamato said. “It went down to my waist.” He smiled. “Of course, I was a lot smaller then, so it probably wasn’t that long.”
“Really?” Iruka tried to imagine it and failed.
“Yes. I don’t have any pictures, though. I wish I did.”
“You could always grow it out again.”
“I had thought about it but… It might get in the way.”
“That never seemed to bother any of the kunoichi. Never bothered me, either.” Iruka shrugged. He shook out his hair again, whole body shaking like a dog’s, and Yamato laughed a little as Inojin squealed where Iruka jostled him.
“I could do a picture of you with long hair, Uncle Yamato, to help you decide”, Inojin piped up breathlessly.
Yamato’s smile grew, wide eyes narrowing to slits as his cheeks turned up. “Okay then. I look forward to seeing it.” He leaned forward to clumsily pat a large hand against the boy’s cheek. “Be sure to make me look good.”
Looking past the other man, Iruka noticed that Boruto had wrestled Shikadai to the ground and was currently knelt on his chest. “Boruto! Get off of him! Both of you get over here now!”
They leaped to their feet, Shikadai spluttering and dusting himself off. Boruto reached out a hand to help and Shikadai kicked him in the shin.
As they dashed in the direction of home, Iruka turned back to Yamato. “We had better get going.”
Inojin slithered down Iruka's leg and plonked butt-first onto the ground. Iruka grinned: He rarely saw Inojin so animated. He was usually quiet, like his father.
Without hesitating, Yamato stooped to lift him back onto his feet. He waited until Inojin was steady before releasing his arms.
Boruto skidded to a stop beside them, feet kicking up a cloud of dirt, and clutched at Iruka's side to steady himself before blinking up at Yamato, the sky reflected in his eyes. “Are you coming to dinner, too?”
Yamato’s smile faded. “Sorry, Boruto, I’m busy. On that top-secret mission, remember?”
“Okay…” Boruto shrugged and began kicking up another cloud of dirt.
Iruka caught his hand.
“Come on, let’s go home.”
Shikadai returned to take his other hand, any former gripes about being walked home by their teacher apparently forgotten. Inojin walked beside him.
“Wave goodbye to Yamato”, Iruka told them cheerily, and he had to half-turn as Boruto and Shikadai each twisted in his grip to wave.
He was still looking back when Boruto broke forward and yelled; “Race you two to the end of the road!”
As they walked off, the kids running around and chattering happily, Iruka glanced back to see Yamato watching after them, a rather wistful expression written on his face.