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Graduation exams had arrived, and Iruka approached them with a lot more caution and dedication than he had in the previous year. It must have paid off, because this time, he passed. He wanted to say he passed with flying colors, but that would have been a bit too generous. He did pass, though, which was more than he could say for the previous exam. Of course he’d been a bit too cavalier last time, seeing as he’d forgotten all about it and missed nearly the whole thing. This time was different, though! He had passed, despite his teachers’ faltering expectations, despite his glaring lack of resources, despite the fact that he wasn’t nearly as good at most things as his classmates. But he was good enough, and that was what counted! He was officially being inducted as a Genin alongside most of his classmates, including the class baby, Uchiha Itachi.
It probably wasn’t fair of Iruka to keep calling him that, but seriously, the kid was half his size and looked like a delicate little baby. That ended on the battlefield, though. When it came to combat training, Itachi fought like a tiger - all lithe and sinuous, smooth and elegant-looking, but full of deadly intent. Iruka, by comparison, felt more like a charging boar - deadly, sometimes, but also not exactly interesting to watch. Not that Iruka had ever felt interesting to anyone, not since his parents died.
Now that he’d graduated, he would be joining a Genin team, too, and going on missions! It was the first step towards becoming a great Konoha shinobi! He fought to keep the grin off his face, only partially succeeding as he glanced around at his classmates, wondering whose team he would be joining. His eyes were drawn next to the line of teachers standing at the front of the room, wondering just how glad they were to finally be rid of him. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, but they hadn’t exactly hidden their disdain for Iruka and his pranks over the years.
“Congratulations to our new graduates,” said an older-looking man seated at a desk at the front of the room. “Now that you’ve joined the ranks of Konoha shinobi, you will be assigned missions from the village.”
Iruka did grin at this. Finally, he was following in his parents’ footsteps!
“You’ll be forming three-man teams,” the man continued. “Under the guidance of a single Jonin-sensei.” His eyes traveled the room, slipping over Iruka (as most peoples’ gazes tended to) and landing on Itachi as he proclaimed, “Now then, let’s announce the teams!”
Iruka felt his stomach twist nervously as they announced the first team, which included his friend Mizuki who had also failed the test last time, not because he’d missed it, but just because he’d been nervous and messed up a bunch of easy stuff during the practical. He’d done a lot better this time around. Mizuki’s team also included a guy named Tenma and a girl named Kanade. Their Jonin-sensei’s name was announced, someone named Taka, and then they were moving on to announce the next three-man team.
Team two, the man at the desk announced, reading the names from a sheet of paper, included Itachi, a girl named Shinko, and -
“Umino Iruka,” the man finished, shuffling his papers. “You’ll be working with Minazuki Yuki-sensei,” he concluded, before continuing to announce, “Team three will be…”
But Iruka wasn’t listening anymore, his eyes sliding across the room to stare at Itachi, whose face was as neutral as always. He had no idea how the boy genius would feel about being teamed up with someone like him. They’d managed a somewhat amiable working relationship in class, but Iruka was still not great at most things, and he worried that he might hold his team back. Or maybe that’s why he’d been put on a team with Itachi in the first place? To try and pick up Iruka’s slack? The thought made him feel sick. Had the teachers really put him on Itachi’s team because they thought he’d be a burden to anyone else?
Itachi’s gaze slid over to meet his, and Iruka realized he’d been staring. He ducked his head quickly, feeling his cheeks heat with embarrassment. Better not to worry about it until he at least met their Jonin-sensei. His teachers in the Academy didn’t like him, but Iruka hoped to at least make a good first impression as a Genin. As the ceremony concluded and they all wandered out to meet their Jonin-sensei for the first time, Iruka was surprised to see Itachi wander up next to him.
“I look forward to working with you,” Itachi said, not exactly pleasantly, but also without any detectable malice. Which was, well, more than Iruka could say for most of the people who spoke to him.
“I, uh, yeah,” Iruka managed ever-so-eloquently, feeling like his tongue had been tangled in his mouth somehow. “I look forward to working with you too?” he finally said, though it came out sounding so uncertain that Itachi actually shot Iruka a look of mild concern.
“Hey guys!” Shinko called, jogging over to join them with a grin. “So we’re a team, huh?” She shot a vaguely annoyed look at Iruka as she said this, her expression brightening incrementally as she glanced at Itachi.
Which was fair, Iruka probably wouldn’t have wanted to be on a team with the kid notorious for never taking things seriously, either. But it still hurt, more than he wanted to admit. “Sure looks that way,” he said boisterously, forcing a grin that he didn’t really feel and glancing between the two of them. “This is going to be fun!”
Itachi blinked twice before turning to face Iruka fully, noting, “I think being sent on missions is serious business, Iruka.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “I don’t think fun is really a part of it.”
Iruka felt his forced grin slipping. Right. Nobody wanted him on their team, it would have been better if he’d just kept his stupid mouth shut. “I mean, sure, being a shinobi is serious work, but if you can’t find meaning in what you do, what’s the point?” he shot back. It was how he lived, anyway. Sometimes that didn’t work out great for him, but it was still the way he wanted to live his life. If you didn’t have your will, your passion, then what was the point? You needed to fight for something, even if that something was just the pleasure of someone actually enduring your presence. Iruka could settle for that. He didn’t have much else to be happy about, and teams were supposed to stick together, so maybe he wouldn’t be so alone all the time anymore. As far as he was concerned, spending time with people who might actually tolerate him could be fun. It was definitely more fun than being held back for detentions, but probably less fun than trying to get one over on the ANBU. Not that he’d ever managed such a feat.
Surprisingly, Itachi didn’t shut him down for having that sort of opinion. Instead, his eyebrows furrowed slightly and he stared into the middle distance contemplatively.
Absently, Iruka wondered how Itachi managed to look so sage-like when he was still practically a toddler.
“Well hello there, kiddos!” came a cheerful voice from behind them.
Shinko jumped, making an eep! sound as she did. Iruka spun around, throwing his hands up defensively. Itachi glanced over his shoulder before slowly turning to face the man standing behind them, obviously unruffled.
“I’m your Jonin-sensei,” the man said, his dark eyes sparkling with good humor. His brown hair was shaggy and pulled back in a low ponytail. Despite this, his hair was escaping (and pointing in every direction) to the extent that it didn’t look like tying it back really did much good. He had a scraggly goatee, but a kind smile. “Minazuki Yuki.”
“Nice to meet you, Yuki-sensei,” Itachi said. “I’m Uchiha Itachi.”
“Yes, nice to meet you!” Shinko added. “Inari Shinko.”
“Nice to meet you,” Iruka said, “Umino Iruka.” He followed up his greeting with a wide grin that felt just a little less forced than his earlier smiles. This guy didn’t seem super stuffy or uptight, so maybe he wouldn’t hate Iruka by reputation alone, and he was determined to make a good impression.
“It’s great to meet all three of you,” Yuki-sensei said, and it sounded like he really meant what he said! Iruka thought he might float away. He couldn’t remember the last time a teacher had spoken to him without a wrinkled nose and a sharp voice. Clapping his hands together, Yuki-sensei continued. “All right, so our first task is making sure the three of you are ready to work as a team,” he turned to gaze at each one of them with a grin. “I’ve always felt that eating a meal together is a great way to form bonds, so why don’t we go grab some lunch?”
Iruka liked him already.
Training with a Jonin-sensei was a lot different from the Academy. For one thing, there were no tests, no written assignments, and Iruka didn’t have to sit still. It was a lot more challenging in other ways, as they worked to build their chakra reservoirs and fine-tune their control over what chakra they had.
It quickly became clear that Itachi had been spending a lot of time practicing at home, and he even told Yuki-sensei that he’d learn a few of his clan jutsus, too. Iruka tried not to be jealous (he failed). Like in school, Itachi was flawless at absolutely everything he put his mind to. Iruka didn’t know how something like that was possible, because it seemed like no matter how hard he tried, how much he practiced, Itachi was always better than him at everything anyway.
Until one day, when they’d been sparring and Iruka had used one of his modified exploding tags - this one was a “sleep” tag, which he’d made by adjusting the character from a simple ‘explode’ to include ‘sleep’ ‘smoke’ and ‘release’. It had taken a long time and a lot of trial and error to perfect the tag, and it still hadn’t worked against the ANBU guards at Hokage Tower (which he still occasionally tried to catch off guard, though he tried to do it less often because every time he’d gone to do homework and the Sandaime Hokage had been around he’d given him these disappointed looks), but he’d brought it to their sparring session anyway because he might as well see if it would work in any situation or if it was just another useless thing Iruka had wasted his time on - and Itachi had caught up to him after the sparring match - he hadn’t been caught by the tag, of course, but Shinko had fallen asleep within minutes and even Yuki-sensei claimed he’d gotten dizzy. So obviously the tag still needed work, but at least it had done something, and Iruka was already trying to figure out if he could find tags somewhere since he’d run out of the stash he’d lifted from the Academy and it would be pretty obvious if he tried to take them from the Academy now that he’d graduated. - and Itachi had asked him, outright, “Where did you get that tag? I’ve never heard of anything like it.”
And then Iruka had to explain, awkwardly, that he’d cannibalized a regular exploding tag to get it to do something else. “It’s something I’ve been working on for awhile,” he said, glancing over to where Yuki-sensei was still checking on Shinko. “I fit other characters around the center of the tag, so that rather than an explosion, the tag performs a different function.”
Itachi nodded thoughtfully. “Do you have any I can see?” he asked.
Shrugging, Iruka pulled out his last ‘sleep’ tag, and after a moment’s thought, one of his ‘stink’ tags, too. “This one’s a sleep tag,” he explained, “see how I used the points here,” he pointed, “here,” pointed again, “and here?” he tapped the third character he’d written in. “If you place the characters at different points than these, it messes with the balance and it explodes too hard, which disperses the sleeping gas too quickly. It still works like a regular exploding tag, otherwise, so it has a bit more versatility than just throwing a gas canister.” He frowned. “It’s still not strong enough to affect Yuki-sensei, though, so I’ll need to figure out how to increase the potency.”
Itachi was holding the two tags, gazing down at them. His expression was still mostly neutral. “Who taught you how to make these?” he asked, lifting his head to gaze at Iruka.
Iruka frowned at the question. “Taught?”
“Yes, do you have a teacher?” Itachi clarified, still gazing up at Iruka, a hint of excitement in his eyes.
“To teach me how to make alternate exploding tags?” Iruka asked. “Like a… a prank teacher?” he was confused.
Now Itachi looked confused. “You just said you made this,” he lifted the ‘sleep’ tag, “And that it has more versatility than a typical gas canister. This isn’t a prank, this is a useful resource.”
Iruka blinked. “But… I made it,” he said. “To try and -” he cut himself off, realizing it probably wasn’t the best idea to go around admitting that he tried to use sleeping gas on the ANBU outside Hokage Tower. “- pull pranks,” he amended. “That’s why I made it.”
“So you didn’t have any help?” Itachi asked, turning the tag around, looking at it from several angles, comparing it to the ‘stink’ tag. “But you said you tested it?”
“Yeah, I take it out to one of the training fields. On weekends, usually,” Iruka explained.
“Without supervision?” Itachi asked, his eyes lifting to meet Iruka’s.
“Who would supervise?” Iruka demanded irritably.
“A teacher,” Itachi replied, his gaze serious.
“Oh, sure, I bet that the Academy teachers would just love to set aside a weekend afternoon to supervise some idiot with a bunch of exploding tags,” Iruka snapped, resisting the urge to snatch the tags back.
“So you did this on your own?” Itachi asked, like he was somehow having trouble believing it. “No teachers, no adults, just you?”
“Yes!” Iruka snapped, throwing his hands in the air. “Who else would there be? My parents are dead, my teachers hated me, and it’s not like I was going to march into Hokage Tower and ask the Sandaime to watch me blow up experimental tags for an afternoon!”
“Boys?” Yuki-sensei walked over, still supporting Shinko with one arm. “Do we have a problem?”
“No problem,” Itachi said, “I was just asking Iruka about his tags.”
“Ah yes,” Yuki-sensei turned to eye Iruka curiously. “Where did you get those, anyway? Are they a clan specialization?”
Iruka blinked. “No,” he said cautiously, his statement coming out more like a question. “I uh… made them myself?”
Yuki-sensei’s eyes widened. “You made them yourself?” he repeated, sounding taken aback. “When?”
“Well,” Iruka gestured to the ‘sleep’ tag that Itachi was still holding, “I just figured that one out last weekend, and that one,” he pointed to the ‘stink’ tag, “I worked out a few months ago?”
Yuki-sensei was eyeing the tags curiously. “Who’s your fuuinjutsu instructor?” he asked absently, most of his attention still focused on the tags in Itachi’s grip.
This again? Iruka sighed. “I don’t have one.”
Now Yuki-sensei’s eyes flew up to land on Iruka. “You don’t have one,” he repeated flatly.
Iruka was getting tired of all the repetition. “Yes! This is what I was just telling Itachi! I don’t have a teacher, I don’t know anyone who would want to teach me, I just figured it out because I -” he slammed his mouth shut, realizing he’d been about to tell Yuki-sensei the kind of student he’d been in the Academy, and he was trying to make a good impression! “...because I wanted to see if I could,” he finally said, his eyes dropping to the ground. Please don’t ask for more details, he thought, then dared a glance in Itachi’s direction. Please don’t say anything more!
Yuki-sensei was stroking his scraggly goatee thoughtfully. “Interesting,” was all he said. “Well, Iruka, if you decide to develop any more experimental tags, might I suggest some supervision? If I’m around, I’d be happy to assist.”
Iruka blinked. What? “Really?” he asked. “But why?”
“First, because seals can be dangerous,” Yuki-sensei explained. Which was fair, Iruka had been on the receiving end of a few experimental tags gone awry. “Second, because I’m curious to see how you develop new tags. It’s not exactly a technique you see every day.”
Iruka blinked. “It’s not?”
Yuki-sensei shook his head slowly. “Working with things like this - tags, or barriers, or complex seals - takes time, effort, and attention to detail. For a Genin, this is impressive work.”
Suddenly it was hard for Iruka to breathe, his eyes burning as his vision blurred slightly. He blinked hard, trying to force back tears. This was not the time to turn into a weepy child. “Oh,” he said softly. “No one ever told me that.”
“Huh,” Yuki-sensei said thoughtfully. “Well, I may ask around a bit, but I think it might be worth having you expand your repertoire beyond exploding tags - if you can bring that level of creativity to other areas of fuuinjutsu, it could become a real asset.”
“Oh,” Iruka said weakly. “Okay. Thanks.”
Handing back the two tags, Itachi had a small quirk to his lips that Iruka hesitantly classified as a smile. “Thank you for letting me look at these,” he said.
“Yeah, sure,” Iruka replied, still in something of a daze, “You’re welcome.”
Soon, the team was assigned their first mission, a D-rank mission to find a missing ninja cat. Which, okay, was a little weird, but at least they would be paid! Iruka was looking forward to the payment most of all. He was still living in one of the orphanage dormitories, and he was hoping to save up enough to move out soon. As other kids slowly moved out, he’d eventually been able to move into his own room about two months ago, but he knew he wouldn’t be allowed to stay for much longer and he needed to start saving up for an apartment if he didn’t want to live in a tent for his next birthday. Typically, the orphanage would keep a room for you until age thirteen, but after that? You’d be on your own.
If he were honest with himself, Iruka really had no reason to worry. Mizuki and Anko had both already offered to let him stay in their respective apartments until he found his own place, but Iruka didn’t feel any better about crashing at a friend’s place than he did about still living in the orphanage. He was twelve years old, he needed to start saving up for his own place, and this D-rank mission was a good place to start! ...even if it did involve wearing cat-ear devices that somehow allowed them to speak to cats. It was a little embarrassing.
The mission went pretty well, though Iruka did get a few scratches courtesy of the feisty creature. The payment was… well. Iruka never saw any of the small stipends from his parents’ trust fund that went to the orphanage for his housing each month, so technically it was more money than he’d ever seen at once. But the amount was still pretty paltry when compared to the security deposit on a new apartment. Itachi and Shinko seemed a lot less excited about their cut than Iruka, though Shinko did invite the two of them to join her for a celebratory snack post-mission. Iruka thought back to all the times he’d lifted snacks from local vendors, and even though he wanted to save all the money he had, he felt like maybe he was obligated to spend at least a little money on snacks now that he actually had some money to spare.
The three of them wandered through the village with Yuki-sensei bringing up the rear, contemplating their options. Iruka knew it wasn’t technically a snack, but he really wanted ramen, especially since Teuchi-san was always kind enough to give him something to eat whenever he asked, even though Iruka had never been able to afford it. He tried not to go there unless he was really hungry, mostly because he was worried that eventually he’d wear out his welcome, like he did most places. Though, now that he had money… with a grin, Iruka decided he’d have to use some of his first mission money to actually buy a bowl from Teuchi-san for once. Wouldn’t he be surprised!
“How about dango?” Itachi suggested, indicating the stall.
“Sounds good!” Shinko grinned. “Iruka?”
“I could eat a horse,” Iruka shot back with a grin, “But dango will do.” He hadn’t had any lunch, and they’d spent almost the whole afternoon training, so he really wasn’t exaggerating, either. He was pretty hungry.
Together, the three of them and Yuki-sensei approached the stand. Iruka tried his best to look innocent - he didn’t think he’d swiped anything from here recently, but he also didn’t have a perfect memory. Better to hang back, just in case.
“I’d like one mitarashi dango, please,” Shinko said sweetly, passing a few ryo to the owner, who handed her a little container with one skewer topped with three sticky rice dumplings coated in a sweet salty sauce.
Itachi was up next. “Hello, I’d like a hanami dango, please,” he requested, handing over his own money, accepting his little container with the tri-colored dumplings before stepping aside to let Iruka place his own order.
“Hi,” Iruka greeted cheerfully, “I’ll have -”
“Out,” the woman interrupted harshly, pointing in the direction of the street. Her eyes never left Iruka’s hands, her face drawing into a scowl. “Don’t think I haven’t seen you around here before, brat. I’m not falling for it. Out.”
Iruka blinked twice before finding his voice. “But I… I have money,” he said, his voice faint. Yuki-sensei was standing behind him, what if he realized? What if he found out that Iruka was a bad kid? He’d even started working with Yuki-sensei on improving his modified ‘sleep’ tag, and Yuki-sensei had said he was looking for a seals specialist to work with Iruka on future projects. Would Yuki-sensei stop training him after this? What if he asked for Iruka to be removed from the team entirely, once he realized that Iruka was actually nothing but a nuisance?
“I don’t care what you have,” the woman replied sharply, “I don’t want you in my shop.”
Iruka was shaking now, and he could feel his hands trembling, so he shoved them into his pockets, quickly spinning around to leave the shop, his face burning. This was the worst. Behind him, he could hear Yuki-sensei asking the woman, “Why would you say something like that?” and suddenly he just couldn’t bear to listen any longer.
Without a second thought, Iruka began sprinting through the market, dodging through alleys, weaving around people, moving just so he wouldn’t have to think. Iruka ran aimlessly, not really sure of where he was going, just wanting to get away from the angry lady and his growing suspicion that he’d just ruined everything, his lessons, his team, his ninja career, all of it. He didn’t think he had a destination in mind until he found his feet slowing to a stop, drawing up short by Ichiraku Ramen. He swallowed hard.
“Teuchi-san?” he said, cautiously brushing the noren curtains aside so he could hop onto one of the ramen stand’s stools.
“Ah, Iruka,” Teuchi-san said with a grin. “How’ve you been? Busy lately? Haven’t seen you for a bit.”
Iruka nodded, “Yeah, I… I just got paid for my first mission,” he said, fighting the words past the lump in his throat. “I want… can I buy a bowl with extra pork? And a marinated egg?”
With a wide grin, Teuchi grabbed a large bowl off the stack beside him and set it down on the counter beside him. “Of course you can, kiddo,” he said, then picked up a bundle of bright yellow noodles from the individual clumps stored in a cooler, tossing the noodles into a deep sieve and dunking it into a large pot of boiling water before digging into his vegetable drawer, withdrawing some cabbage, bean sprouts, and just a few sliced garlic greens. He lifted an eyebrow in Iruka’s direction as he tossed the vegetables into a different strainer, which he also placed in boiling water, grabbing a pair of chopsticks and stirring the noodles around before asking. “Would that be miso, tonkotsu, or shio?”
“Which one’s best?” came a friendly voice from behind Iruka, and he spun around to see Yuki-sensei, pulling aside the Noren curtains and settling down on a stool beside Iruka.
“Uh,” Iruka wasn’t sure how to respond, so he quickly turned to Teuchi-san, answering him first. “Miso, please.” What was Yuki-sensei doing here?
“I’ll have what he’s having,” Yuki-sensei told Teuchi-san, leaning on his elbows and watching with interest as Teuchi took a large scoop of miso paste and added it to Iruka’s bowl before ladling in some broth and stirring it gently until the miso had been dissolved into the soup.
On Iruka’s right, Itachi settled down on a stool, too. “Is it okay if I sit here?” he asked Teuchi-san. “I don’t want to spoil my dinner, but I know these seats are usually for customers.”
“I’ll make an exception for today,” Teuchi-san told him with a smile, “Just don’t make a habit of it.”
“Could I have the shio ramen? With extra leeks, please,” Shinko added, hopping up to the stool on Itachi’s other side. “My dad’s out of town, and my mom’s a terrible cook, so if I tell her I ate here then I won’t have to eat her food.”
Teuchi-san’s face twitched like he wanted to laugh, but he managed to keep his expression mostly neutral as he pulled down another bowl. At this point, Iruka’s noodles were done, a little bit soft, because that was how Iruka liked his noodles cooked and Teuchi-san always cooked them perfectly. He shook out the excess water, dropping the noodles into Iruka’s miso broth, piling the cabbage, bean sprouts, and garlic greens on top before adding five slices of mouth-watering pork and two halves of a marinated egg, sliding it across the counter to Iruka, who accepted the bowl with a grin.
He never felt comfortable ordering extra toppings from Teuchi-san when he’d dropped by before, but the man had noticed how much Iruka liked the pork, and he’d once or twice claimed to have ‘changed the marinade recipe’ for his eggs and asked if Iruka would ‘taste test’ it for him. It was a pretty transparent ruse, but both of them had gone along with it anyway. Iruka was really excited to be able to really pay for it, though, at least for once.
Beside him, Yuki-sensei accepted his own nearly-identical bowl of miso ramen and glanced at Iruka with a grin. “I take it you’re a regular here?”
Ducking his head to hide his expression, Iruka nodded. “Yeah,” he said, grabbing a pair of disposable chopsticks from the chopstick holder in front of him and quickly breaking them in two, “I come here a few times a month.” He took a huge bite of noodles, slurping fast. He’d forgotten how hungry he was!
“I take it you’re Iruka’s Jonin-sensei?” Teuchi-san asked Yuki-sensei, sparing a quick glance in his direction as he handed a bowl piled high with thinly sliced leeks to Shinko.
“I am,” Yuki-sensei answered with a grin, taking a bite of chashu pork. “Oh,” he said, then, “Wow.” He followed up this sentiment by cramming the remaining three quarters of the slice of marinated pork belly into his mouth in one bite. He swallowed before turning to Iruka and commenting, “Good choice.”
Iruka couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face at the compliment, even though it was really Teuchi-san’s cooking that was so impressive, not Iruka’s order. “Ichiraku’s the best ramen in the village,” he said.
“I don’t doubt it,” Yuki-sensei agreed. “Thanks, ah…”
“The name’s Teuchi,” Teuchi-san said. “And you are…?”
“Oh, I’m Minazuki Yuki,” Yuki-sensei replied with a grin. “Nice to meet you.”
Teuchi-san nodded, then turned back to tidying up the counter while they ate.
“Thank you for the meal,” Iruka said a few minutes later, after draining the last of the broth from his bowl. His stomach ached a little, like it sometimes did when he ate too much too fast, but Ichiraku ramen was so good he didn’t care. He set his empty bowl back up on the counter with a grin. “What do I owe you?”
Teuchi beamed back down at Iruka, ticking off his fingers. “Miso ramen, that’s 55 ryo, extra pork’ll be another 20 ryo, and another 10 ryo for the egg… That’ll be 85 ryo, total.”
Iruka hadn’t realized his smile could widen any further, but it did as he plucked a 100-ryo bill from the small bag containing his cut of their mission pay. “Thanks! Here you go.” He handed the bill to Teuchi, who accepted it, turning and handing a few coins back to Iruka.
“Come again soon, kiddo,” he said, turning as Yuki-sensei finished his own bowl to take it off the edge of the counter and accept Yuki-sensei’s payment, too. “I miss having you around.”
“I will,” Iruka promised, wondering how much money he could afford to spend at Teuchi-san’s restaurant. At the rate he was making money now, he’d be lucky to afford Ichiraku Ramen once a month. He hoped they’d start taking better paying missions soon!
“Thanks for coming,” Teuchi-san added, handing Yuki-sensei his change.
“Thanks for the meal,” Shinko added, setting her own empty bowl on the counter. “I definitely won’t be able to eat dinner now.” She grinned at Iruka. “Thanks for finding us a great restaurant.”
That… hadn’t been what he’d done, but Iruka recognized an out when it was handed to him. “Yeah,” he said. “You’re welcome.”
Itachi looked vaguely confused by this exchange, but not bothered enough to ask about it, which was a relief. “Your ramen looks and smells delicious,” he told Teuchi-san, tone serious. “I look forward to visiting next time. I’ll definitely order something.”
“See that you do,” Teuchi-san replied in an amused tone. “You got yourself a pretty great team, kiddo,” he told Iruka.
“I do,” Iruka agreed, glancing from Yuki-sensei, to Shinko, and down to Itachi before turning back to Teuchi-san with a grin. “I really do.”