Chapter 66 Teacher's Concerns

Before dawn, Kakashi crouched on the windowsill of Iruka's house.

It was still an hour before sunrise, but the kitchen lights were already on, so he walked straight in.

As expected, Iruka wasn't in the bedroom, and he knocked gently on the wall as a courtesy.

"Come in!" Iruka's voice came from the kitchen.

Kakashi walked into the kitchen and saw Iruka sitting at the table. There was a set of senbon and a few kunai on the table, and a roll of bandages next to it. The kettle on the stove was steaming happily. Iruka was tying his hair, and his tactical vest was casually draped over a chair.

"Good morning." Kakashi said standing in the doorway.

"Good morning, would you like some tea?" Iruka asked.

"OK, thanks."

Iruka turned and pulled out a tea can from the cupboard, then began searching the drawers for teacups.

"If you want to eat, you can also have a rice ball." He said with a hint of imperceptible fatigue in his tone.

Kakashi sat down at the table and helped himself to a salmon rice ball while Iruka's back was turned, and he took a contented bite.

"I didn't expect you to be up so early." Kakashi said after he finished his rice ball. Iruka turned around with a tired smile on his face. "What happened?" he asked.

Iruka rubbed his temple, the smile disappearing from his face.

"Someone tried to steal a forbidden scroll from the archives room last night, but luckily the chakra alarm was triggered. I have to go early today to help deal with this." Iruka complained.

Kakashi tilted his head in confusion.

"Why you? The Anbu on duty should be able to handle this. You should rest well."

Iruka sighed heavily and placed a steaming cup of tea in front of Kakashi, grabbing a cup of tea for himself.

"It's not that simple. The offender is a teacher."

"Who?"

Iruka gritted his teeth.

"Mizuki."

Kakashi gasped and Iruka glared at him.

"Don't say that. I should have thought of it a long time ago. He has been behaving abnormally in the past few months." Iruka said self-reproachfully. He picked up a roll of bandage and began to wrap it around his calf, stuffing the thousand-leaf bandage into the gaps in the bandage.

"You two were friends when you were kids, right?" Kakashi sipped his tea while watching Iruka pack his things.

"We rarely interacted after we grew up." Iruka explained. "I think he still can't get over the fact that I chose..." He hesitated, as if searching for the right words.

"Choose to be an ordinary person?" Kakashi said it for him.

"Right." Iruka nodded. He picked up a few freshly sharpened kunai from the table and stuffed them into his thigh pocket. "By the way, what brings you here so early? I don't think your little brats would like to be woken up before dawn, especially the Uchiha kid. He's sure to get mad."

"I know very well that Sasuke doesn't like these kinds of...surprises."

Iruka couldn't help but laugh.

"You are such a bad guy."

"I have the injuries to prove it."

Iruka rolled his eyes at him, but he seemed to be in a better mood.

"Seriously, what are you doing here? Are you really here to torture your students?"

Kakashi hummed softly.

"Just... finish my daily schedule early. My students will be carrying out their first C-rank mission in a few hours. I think I have to make some preparations in advance."

In fact, Kakashi almost didn't sleep all night last night. He kept thinking about whether it was the right decision to let Team 7 carry out a C-rank mission so soon.

He was not worried about the mission itself. Although C-level missions were more arduous, they generally did not involve any danger, unless he encountered some ordinary bandits.

His fear was that this would be the end of D-level missions - once his students got a taste of the excitement of real missions, they wouldn't want to do those boring D-level missions anymore.

That way, he would have no time to rest.

"Generally speaking, I don't recommend sending inexperienced Genin to perform difficult missions so soon, but I trust them," Iruka said easily. "They are strong enough to handle C-rank missions, and I believe that if something unexpected really happens, you will definitely protect them."

Iruka's reaction was completely unexpected to Kakashi. Iruka always liked to worry about this and that, and Kakashi originally thought that it would take at least some effort to convince him.

"Hmm..." Kakashi responded noncommittally. He did not respond to Iruka's last sentence. "You are calmer than I thought."

Iruka picked up a shuriken and threw it at him, and Kakashi quickly caught it.

******

After a while, when Kakashi appeared on another windowsill again, a strange feeling surged in his heart. This sudden warmth melted a corner of his cold heart.

Naruto's apartment was even smaller than he had imagined, with only three rooms: one room was both a bedroom and a living room, with only a bed, a bedside table, a small shelf and a wardrobe; a narrow corridor led to an even smaller kitchen and a closed door, which should be the bathroom.

There was barely room for one person, let alone three adolescents, but at this moment, the three kids were huddled together, clinging to each other like three stray cats, seeking warmth, their heads resting on their backpacks and each other, their limbs stretched out in a casual manner.

Sakura Haruno was still wearing her home clothes. Her eyes and nose were red, obviously she had been crying.

Sasuke and Naruto protected her in the middle, one on each side, as if protecting her from harm. They faced opposite directions, but strangely maintained a balance, like the two poles of yin and yang.

These kids are so special.

******

Sakura Haruno's knee accidentally hit Naruto's back. Naruto opened his eyes dazedly and the sky outside the window was already turning pale.

His stomach growled.

"It's time for breakfast, kid. Your teacher came and left something for you on the table." Kyuubi said lazily and yawned.

"Teacher Kakashi has been here?" Naruto asked as he got up from the ground. Sasuke and Haruno Sakura were sleeping soundly, and he finally managed to free himself from their limbs.

"Just half an hour ago." Kyuubi said. "That cunning guy, I almost couldn't find him."

Naruto walked over to the dining table and noticed an extra note and a plastic bag there that were not there last night before they passed out.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes and squinted to decipher the scribbled handwriting on the note.