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Everything starts to change after Orochimaru's attack.
With the Sandaime dead and no Hokage immediately apparent, Iruka ends up taking over paperwork that's above his official level as a chuunin. It's not simply because he knows the seals, or the Sandaime trusted him: there's no one else to do it. Everyone who can be spared is out of the village hunting down perpetrators or holding up Konoha's contracts to prove they're still strong enough to protect themselves from opportunistic attacks. As an Academy teacher, Iruka can't leave the village; as someone with a head for paperwork, he's crucial to keeping the Mission Desk going without a Hokage to make formal decisions. The Council protests, but Iruka talks them around and makes the necessary concessions to keep Konoha running as smoothly as possible.
But there's so much paperwork, and Iruka refuses to skimp on his teaching just because some asshole jounin have started knocking on his apartment door to protest their assignments.
So Iruka starts taking volunteer shifts at the hospital, sitting watch over people in medically-induced comas, over patients who need to have someone available when they wake, patients who might pose a risk to themselves, ones who have been subjected to genjutsu or other mind-control jutsu.
It's a way to help, and it's a place no healthy shinobi willingly sets foot for anything less than an extremely pressing reason, so it's also a place Iruka can complete his lesson planning and grading in peace.
And that would have been the end of it, except that him being there caught the attention of both the new Hokage, Tsunade, and of Hatake Kakashi, whom Iruka was assigned to babysit several times while his bones healed from catastrophic breaks that needed repeated infusions of chakra.
Iruka's not entirely sure what about him sitting on Kakashi and wrenching his arm into a painful hold to keep him still until the ANBU hiding outside the window could call in a medic made a good impression, but Kakashi seems to have decided, from that day forward, that they were friends, then that they might be something more.
Honestly, Iruka doesn't quite believe it, but he definitely doesn’t fight it. He has few enough friends these days, and hasn’t been especially social ever since his best friend literally stabbed him in the back. Besides, most everyone he knows is either out on missions, busy with family, or too sick for company.
Kakashi is also often out of Konoha or sick. But some time after they make their relationship public, Iruka starts being assigned to babysit him more often than not, and that's as good a way of spending time together as anything. Kakashi even lets Iruka do his lesson planning in peace, sitting or lying still with a novel or a distant look in his eyes.
So everything starts to change after Orochimaru's attack.
But it all comes to a head when Tsunade is checking on Kakashi, and Iruka makes the mistake of staying in the room and focusing on his paperwork instead of leaving entirely.
Kakashi is clearly grouchy about Tsunade wanting him to stay hospitalized any longer for the jagged thigh slice he'd received, even though it had nearly severed his hamstring entirely.
It probably doesn't help that Tsunade is berating him while complaining about how few people she had to send on an upcoming B-rank solo mission that she seems pretty sure would end up being an A-rank when all was said and done, given local conditions and missing-nin. Iruka remembers the details of the mission: he had argued against taking it, given the cost-risk balance, but Danzo had insisted, and Iruka couldn't stand up to him when he had a councilor on his side.
Iruka tries to zone them out and focus on his upcoming lessons: they will be covering throwing multiple kunai in quick succession next week, and that almost always resulted in injuries, which Iruka hoped to reduce.
"What?" Tsunade says. "No, he's not."
"He should be," Kakashi replies.
Iruka looks up to see them both staring at him.
"The brat says you're tokubetsu-ranked," Tsunade says.
Iruka resists the urge to close his eyes or throw his paperwork on the floor and storm off.
"I'm not," he says. "I'm a chuunin Academy instructor."
"He does seals for T&I," Kakashi says. "And trapfinding. And he ran the Mission Desk before you got here, because he has clearance and can do the seals to unlock almost anything in the Hokage's library."
Iruka doesn't see how explaining that he's an escalated kidnapping risk with no combat skills to speak of is supposed to convince Tsunade that he's ranked too low, so he just shakes his head.
"He's been nominated for tokubetsu twice," Kakashi continues. “By two different people.”
Iruka wishes he'd been paying attention to whatever conversation Kakashi had been having with Tsunade, because Kakashi is clearly pissed off about something. Iruka hopes he's not about to become collateral damage. That's not very much in-character for Kakashi, but he's always touchier and more morose when he's in hospital, and he’s especially unhappy about this injury, since the missing-nin who delivered it also nearly decapitated one of his teammates.
Tsunade looks at Iruka intently.
"Is that so?" she asks.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Iruka says. "I turned it down both times. My combat abilities are not strong enough for tokubetsu rank. That makes me a liability in the field."
"I'm gonna level with you, sensei," Tsunade says. "We need more tokubetsu and jounin nearly as badly as we did at the end of the Third war, and we'd just lost all the Uchiha at that point. If you can make rank, I need a very good reason for why you're not just malingering. Your fuinjutsu and sensory work have been praised by Inoichi more than once. You're above chuunin baseline at taijutsu. So. Convince me."
Iruka takes a steadying breath at the accusation of malingering, as if he's willfully denying Konoha his strength for no good reason, as if he doesn't work himself to the bone for Konoha day after day, doing the kind of necessary, thankless work that everyone else overlooks.
The real reason is multifactorial, but Tsunade's never been known for being patient. Iruka tries his first attack, feeling like he's playing shogi with the Sandaime all over again.
"I'm a capture risk," he says. "My time on the Mission Desk between the Sandaime's death and your arrival involved too many accidental exposures to S-level and kage-level information. I'm not strong enough to prevent myself from being captured and interrogated."
Tsunade frowns.
"Nobody knows that," she points out. "And Kakashi could train you up. So could Guy. You could be put on team missions."
Iruka feels his temper fraying, but he knows better than to try a frontal attack against such an overwhelming opponent.
"Bingo books get updated fast, spies work faster, and training takes time," he points out, instead of flat out saying no.
Tsunade looks unimpressed; time to try another approach.
"Do you think Guy will recommend Rock Lee for tokubetsu jounin, someday?" he asks Kakashi. "And will Asuma recommend Shikamaru?"
Kakashi looks surprised, but he nods. Tsunade looks a little confused, almost considering, not as impatient as Iruka had feared.
"You'd recommend them both, someday, even though their skills are radically different?"
Kakashi nods. "Of course. They're both going to be very valuable shinobi of Konoha."
Iruka pushes back a smile at the response, which was exactly what he was hoping for. There are hardly two more different shinobi in this generation, one all-taijutsu, one so specialized in ninjutsu that he barely ever throws a punch.
"So, those two show that there are radically different ways to be a shinobi?"
Tsunade frowns.
"Obviously," she says, but she sounds baffled, not angry.
"Who taught them the fundamentals that allowed them to find their individual strengths?" Iruka asks, deciding to take a slightly longer, more circuitous path to his point.
"Asuma and Guy," Kakashi says.
Iruka gives him a dirty look, and Kakashi doesn’t look at all cowed, but continues.
"And their Academy teachers," Kakashi grants.
Tsunade gives Iruka a considering look, and Iruka thinks she's figured out his point, but he's determined, and everyone in this room knows how hard it is to get him to back down.
"So, you'll admit that Academy teaching has value for the village, on the whole."
Tsunade snorts.
"Obviously," she says.
Chakra flickers faintly outside the window. Iruka guesses that Tsunade’s ANBU guard, surprised by something, failed in their chakra cloaking for a moment. Iruka ignores it to face the problem in front of him.
Tsunade’s agreed with him, which means he’s basically got her cornered, but Iruka still doesn't allow himself to smile.
“And we don’t have civilian teachers, because they can’t mold chakra. It follows that being an Academy teacher is a valid shinobi way. A necessary one, even."
Tsunade frowns. Kakashi's visible eye crinkles like he's amused by something. They both nod.
"Would you say I'm a good teacher?" Iruka presses.
Kakashi snorts in either amusement or disbelief. Tsunade's expression does something complex, then smooths out again. There’s that flicker of chakra again. Iruka makes a mental note to tell Tsunade to get ANBU to work on their cloaking, and to cover it more intensively in his classes next year.
"Obviously you are," Tsunade agrees.
"I am,” Iruka says, though it feels odd to tout his own successes so obviously. “Nine of my students took the chuunin exam right out of the Academy," Iruka adds, and determinedly ignores the memory of his protests about Naruto. "So. Which is more effective: one shinobi training a classroom of potential shinobi and putting nine new genin and chuunin in the field, or one single shinobi in the field?"
"That's not the same," Tsunade protests. "The fighting level of new graduates isn't the same as a tokubetsu jounin or jounin. It can't be compared."
"Fine," Iruka says. "If it's only about strength in the field, how many chuunin do I have to have taught to have been valuable to Konoha? How many jounin? I can compile a list by graduating class, if you like.”
He pauses, but only for an instant, knowing that he needs to win this one.
“Maybe we should replace medics on three-man teams with more jounin, if all you're concerned about is raw fighting strength."
Tsunade sucks in a breath, and Iruka would feel bad about that, given her history, but he remembers a teammate nearly bleeding out because of his hesitation to land a killing blow. He remembers the importance of the information that would be tortured out of him, imagines what his death would do to Naruto, and holds firm.
"He's right," Kakashi says, surprising Iruka. "Danzo's going to keep pushing for more bodies in the field, more firepower, and he's going to get Konoha's future killed in the process. We need more shinobi, but we'll need them more in ten years than we do today. That’s when my generation will be feeling the toll of the Third War, and our elders will mostly be retired, dead, or invalided out. I can keep fighting for today; Iruka-sensei can make sure we have fighters for the next war."
That's a bleak outlook, but it appears to be working.
"If I might say so, I'm more aware of the need for shinobi in the field than almost anyone else, Hokage-sama," Iruka points out. "Who do you think sorts the scrolls and prioritizes them before they reach your desk? If I get killed or captured, who will take over that job?"
It's not vanity to say that he's the best Mission Desk administrator Konoha has right now. Tsunade will get up to speed soon, as will Shizune, but the amount of information Iruka holds in his head is staggering, and shinobi are not generally known for being good at paperwork.
Tsunade sighs.
"I had to try," she says, and flicks her eyes toward the window.
Even without her meaningful look, Iruka can tell her ANBU guard is still waiting out there, because they’re still masking their chakra almost shamefully badly. Given that they're not in the room, they're probably in Danzo's faction, which means this was all a performance for his benefit, and there was very little risk of Iruka being sent into the field.
"I understand," Iruka says, and takes a deep breath. "Now I'm going to finish this lesson plan, unless you need me to look over any paperwork immediately?"
Tsunade shakes her head, rests a hand just above Kakashi's knee and infuses just a little bit of chakra into the wound.
“Another two days,” she says to him. “Bed rest, and regular checkups. You’re not developing a limp on my watch, kid.”
Then she stands and leaves without another word to Iruka, just a small nod.
Iruka watches Kakashi carefully, but doesn't say anything until he's sure the ANBU spying on Tsunade has followed her out of hearing range.
"You could have warned me," he hisses.
Kakashi shrugs.
"You knew the ANBU was there," he says. "And you have a head for strategy and think well on your feet. You're also a terrible liar."
Iruka hates to admit that he has a point.
“Still,” he says. “How long has that been brewing?”
Kakashi looks at the ceiling as if it has answers, but Iruka’s used to that by now, and just waits while Kakashi sorts out what he thinks he can say and what he needs to keep concealed. Being a shinobi means living amidst secrets: Iruka made his peace with that a long time ago.
“It’s not only about you,” Kakashi says. “Danzo thinks the Academy is too soft, keeps children enrolled too long.”
”He wants more ten-year-old-genin?” Iruka asks.
Kakashi laughs, bitter.
“More like ten-year-old chuunin,” he says. “They’re easier to control, and they break along more malleable lines.”
“Well,” Iruka says, suddenly glad Naruto is out of Konoha, traveling with Jiraiya and untraceable for everyone, friend or foe, no matter how much he misses the little menace. “I suppose they think getting me killed in the field would help advance that agenda.”
Kakashi looks at him, and just closes his eye, which is as much of an admission as Iruka’s likely to get.
It’s Iruka’s turn to stare into space, to turn the pieces over in his mind, to fit it all together with the rest of the bits of politics he can’t help but run into, navigate around. Kakashi bringing it up with Tsunade here, with an ANBU witness in Danzo’s faction, but without any members of the council here to counter-weight her, was probably the best he could do. Now Tsunade’s mind is made up, and Danzo will know he can’t just promote Iruka into an early mission-induced grave and out of his way.
“Thanks,” Iruka says, eventually, and lets his eyes focus on the lesson plans on his lap desk. He still doesn’t have any more ideas for kunai lessons than he did before. Usually he’s fiercely independent about teaching, refusing to ask Kakashi for advice: some of that is because he’s heard Naruto and Sakura talk about Kakashi’s teaching methods, but more of it is pride, because teaching is something that Iruka holds dear, feels territorial about.
Still, something about the way Kakashi supported him to Tsunade just now feels different than the carefully separate pattern they’ve fallen into,
“I don’t suppose you have any ideas about how to teach pre-genin how to throw three kunai in quick succession without an egregious number of accidents?” Iruka asks, and meets Kakashi’s eye in time to see surprise in his expression.
Kakashi smiles, then, visible even through his mask, in the curl of his eye, and Iruka wants him to always look this pleased, this relieved, this purely happy.
“I might,” he says, and pats the bed next to him. “Come sit next to me, show me what you’ve got so far and how it usually goes wrong. Pre-genin are much less predictable than chuunin, they must be harder to keep in line.”
Iruka could easily move his chair over and show Kakashi the plans from where he’s sitting, but Kakashi has never invited him to sit so close before, and that, too, feels important, just like Kakashi feeding him the openings he needed to convince Tsunade, to convince Danzo’s faction, to keep him safe. It feels like teamwork, and it feels, almost, a little bit, like trust.
So Iruka scoops up his papers, sits on the narrow hospital bed with Kakashi’s arm around his waist, and begins to explain his lesson plan in detail.
Kakashi falls asleep against his shoulder, clearly exhausted by the extensive healing he went through before Tsunade stopped by. Iruka just presses a soft kiss to the top of his head and keeps working in silence.
When he does teach the multi-kunai lesson plan a little over a week later, he incorporates several of Kakashi’s suggestions and has a lower injury rate than he’s ever had before.
Kakashi is in Iruka’s apartment when he gets home from the Academy that night, just back from another solo mission. He looks gray and drawn, but isn’t visibly injured, and Iruka will take what he can get.
“I’m home,” he says, kicking off his sandals in the genkan.
“Welcome back,” Kakashi replies after a moment, as if he’s still remembering what it’s like to live around other people. Iruka’s heart breaks for him, just a little bit, but he pushes it aside. It’s not like Iruka has lived with other people since he made chuunin and could afford his own place.
Kakashi makes a face, and Iruka knows there’s political news coming.
“You’ve been declared a noncombatant and village-bound for intelligence protection,” Kakashi says. He sounds like he’s expecting Iruka to blow up at him.
“Okay,” Iruka says. “Tsunade had to give them those conditions as a concession, I take it?”
Kakashi looks surprised, and then leans back on his hands, and smiles.
“You’ve got a good head for this,” he says. “You don’t mind?”
Iruka smiles back, and walks over to drop a kiss on Kakashi’s uncovered lips.
“It’s not like I have time to go anywhere, anyway,” he says, standing back up to unzip his vest. “The students and Mission Desk are more important than theoretical travel.”
It’s strange how natural it feels, Iruka thinks, to enter his tiny two-room apartment and see Sharingan Kakashi sitting at the kotatsu reading a romance novel. Before Orochimaru’s attack, he’d never have been able to imagine this life for himself. Before then, Kakashi was Naruto’s lazy genin-sensei who pushed children too far and too fast, nothing more.
Iruka can’t say it was worth it, exactly. How could he, with all the people they’d lost? But loss, too, is the life of a shinobi, and both Iruka and Kakashi learned that lesson young.
Iruka settles down at the kotatsu next to Kakashi, who loops an easy arm around his waist and pulls him close.
If his life has to change because of Orochimaru’s attack, Iruka thinks, this is one change he will take gladly.
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