The Light in the Dark [ENGLISCH/GB]

3

A little astonished Iruka looked at him, he thanked him? As Kakashi and as Hokage? Simply because he had been there for Naruto? Something about this statement irritated him somehow and so he just ate his ramen in silence. What could possibly say to Kakashi? Except the failed mission and Naruto's training. Or was there more than he knew? No, he didn't believe that and so he looked back into his ramen bowl. "You know, Kakashi, we all have our tasks and mine was to help Naruto..." he said, what else could he say? It was somehow true that Sandaime had either given him this task or left it up to him to choose. Even then, Iruka had been a person who wanted to give everyone a chance. Kakashi had to laugh softly, almost imperceptibly, and after he had eaten his ramen he looked at Iruka. "And you did that wonderfully and somehow this job never stopped with you, didn't it?" he said and Iruka nodded. "Our destinies are connected...I was very angry with everything back then...when Kurama attacked our village my parents died and like everyone else I first ..." "...I blamed Naruto for the whole situation. Kakashi finished the sentence knowingly and put his chin on his hands while closing his eyes.
"Many people did that then. Many excluded him for fear of the monster inside him...And none of us believed that he would become such an excellent shinobi who would even marry soon! And that is mainly thanks to you, you somehow took over the father role for him. The Rokudaime stood up and paid for both of them before he set off to leave, but paused for a moment. "Don't always make yourself so small, director Iruka!" he said and then just left.

What was left behind was an irritated Chu-Nin, who once again didn't know how to judge the Rokudaime. Director Iruka? Only now did it make CLICK! With him and he got up to follow Kakashi, but he was already gone as usual. Had Kakashi meant it seriously? Should he really become the director of the academy? But he hadn't even applied for that position, he had everything he wanted: he was a teacher who would continue to advise his students long after the academy was over if they had difficulties.

-*-

The Rokudaime had retreated to the HokageTower after the conversation with Iruka at Ichiraku and tried to work off the piles of papers that had accumulated over time. He had already sent Shikamaru home, after all, he had a wife who would surely like to spend some time with him. On the side, he worked on the post of director for the academy and he had meant what he had said to Iruka. There was simply no one in her village who was better suited for the job. However, he then had to make some changes to the staff structure of the teaching staff, because Iruka would not have much time left for teaching. Just as he hadn't had any real time since he was a Rokudaime.
Kakashi stood up and stepped to the window, the night now lay almost entirely over Konoha and only one by one could see lights burning, on the shopping street the shops slowly closed and only the "Rusty Kunai" and Ichiraku remained open. For the shinobis who came home even in the middle of the night. Unfortunately for him this still meant more work, because all reports had to be checked before they went to the archives. Sometimes he wondered what was the point of it all. Because although the war was over, they still felt the consequences of it. In recent years, more and more shinobi had switched to the internal service because they couldn't cope with the brutality of some missions. Many of the shinobi were still suffering from the late effects of the 4th Ninja War itself, and these failed in active service anyway...This had to be compensated! Kakashi sighed softly when he heard a soft knocking at the door. "Come in" he said and heard the door open, it was Sasuke. He came to him and handed him a scroll. "I have been able to weed out another nest." Kakashi just nodded and put the scroll with the report on the desk and took out a map on which Sasuke had drawn where the nest had been.
"So Kaguya's offspring are still here..." Marbled Kakashi and then looked at his former student who nodded. "There are fewer of them, but I can't possibly weed them all out at the same time and it is too early for Naruto to fight them again. He must prepare a wedding." The Rokudaime had to laugh and then put the card aside. "Have you seen Sakura yet? She misses you... And maybe you should help Naruto a little too, not to give him cold feet. Kakashi joked and Sasuke nodded laughing. "I don't think he would really leave Hinata, but I had to stay a few days ago anyway. Satisfied, Kakashi nodded and then sat down at his desk again to work through the rest of the papers. Sasuke said goodbye and made his way to his sweetheart.

The Rokudaime was glad that the Uchiha was fighting on her side again and all misunderstandings could be cleared up. And he himself only came home in the first hours of the morning, roaming through a sleeping Konoha, which seemed almost peaceful.

-*-

Iruka had gone home that evening but couldn't sleep, Kakashi's words hadn't left his mind and so he had set off early in the morning for the academy where he unlocked all the rooms and prepared everything so that the day could start without any problems. Afterwards he sat down with a coffee at the essays, which he wanted to finish correcting. The idea was that the students should write down what they wanted to become later on and the result really surprised him and moved him to tears.
Some of them had written that they wanted to become like him, a teacher who was loved and appreciated by everyone. Iruka put the finished stack of essays aside and stretched, a glance out of the window told him that the day was slowly dawning for the others as well, because the sun was rising and bathed the roofs of the village in a pleasant orange-yellow colour. It was almost a little bit picturesque, it seemed like an inconspicuous village somewhere in the middle of nowhere, just coming to life.
Iruka loved this time of the day, because it was full of peace and quiet... A time when the village was coming back to life and the daily hustle and bustle was slowly coming to an end. Of course he didn't know that there was still a sleepless soul... Because his thoughts wandered again to the grey haired Shinobi and the head of the village, what was that? Kakashi had already exerted this attraction on him before, but now it was getting a little bad every time. He had never thought about whether he was attracted to women or men, but when he was a disciple, he knew that in some situations he had often thought of men and especially of Kakashi. When he remembered this he turned red and tried to distract himself quickly, he really didn't need that now, after all he still didn't know what Kakashi had planned for today and if he would come to the academy and how it would all go.

The thought that he would become the director was still a little strange, but the more he thought about it, the more logical it was.