Smack!
Iruka suddenly slammed his hand down on the table and shouted angrily,
“Enough!
Who gave you permission to leave the hospital?!”
Ichiraku Ramen was unusually quiet.
Teuchi seemed to be away, leaving only Ayame busy inside the shop.
Naruto and Hinata sat on the tall stools at the counter.
Three or four empty bowls were stacked in front of Naruto, making it obvious that he had been there for quite some time.
Hinata, meanwhile, still had more than half of her ramen left untouched.
Her distinctive pale eyes were filled with worry as she looked at Naruto, while her small hands fidgeted nervously in her lap, as though she wanted to say something but couldn’t bring herself to do so.
Naruto was badly startled by the sudden shout.
He nearly lost his balance and fell off his stool.
After steadying himself, he turned around, intending to give whoever had scared him a piece of his mind—only to see Iruka standing there with a dark expression, his face practically radiating anger.
“I-Iruka-sensei?
What are you doing here?”
“What?
Am I not allowed to be here?”
“N-No, that’s not what I meant…”
Perhaps realizing that Iruka was genuinely angry this time, Naruto didn’t dare fool around.
For a moment, he could only stammer awkwardly, unable to say anything in his defense.
Iruka shot him an annoyed glare.
Seeing that Naruto wasn’t talking back as he usually did, however, his anger eased somewhat.
Naruto and Sasuke were both among the students Iruka held in the highest regard, so naturally, he paid them extra attention.
Naruto in particular was different.
In those eyes that never admitted defeat, Iruka could see countless possibilities—something even the exceptionally talented Sasuke lacked, and something Iruka himself had lacked at the beginning.
Iruka wanted to see just how far Naruto, who had grown up struggling against adversity, could go.
That was one of his greatest hopes as a teacher.
Naruto had suffered the most serious injuries during yesterday’s training.
There wasn’t a single part of his body that hadn’t been battered and bruised.
If he didn’t take proper care of himself, there was a real chance he could be left with lasting injuries, which would be extremely detrimental to his future development.
Seeing Naruto running around in this condition, how could Iruka not be angry?
“Hinata, didn’t I specifically ask you to take good care of Naruto?
Is this how you look after him?
Don’t you know that his injuries will take at least a week to recover?”
Hinata’s eyes immediately reddened.
She had followed Iruka’s instructions.
After arriving at the Academy, she had written a leave request and placed it on Iruka’s desk before taking the lunch she had prepared early that morning to visit Naruto at the hospital.
Everything had gone smoothly at first.
Naruto had readily accepted her kindness, and she had even been happy that the visit seemed to have brought them closer.
But just as she was preparing to leave, Naruto suddenly shouted something about how he’d “almost forgotten about the free ramen today.” Ignoring all her attempts to stop him, he had dragged her out of the hospital and sneaked off to Ichiraku Ramen.
Faced with Iruka’s reprimand, Hinata felt terribly wronged.
Yet she didn’t want Naruto to be scolded any further, so she could only say timidly,
“I’m sorry, Iruka-sensei.
I…”
“It has nothing to do with Hinata.
I was the one who dragged her here.”
Before Hinata could finish, Naruto hurriedly spoke up.
“Iruka-sensei, I’m sorry.
This was all my fault.
I was the one messing around, so please don’t blame Hinata anymore.”
Seeing Hinata staring anxiously at him from the side, as though afraid he would continue scolding her, Iruka’s anger immediately faded by more than half.
He looked at Naruto with a teasing expression.
“Well, look at you.
Taking responsibility like a real man.
Now I’m the villain while you get to play the hero rescuing the damsel in distress, huh?”
“Huh?
Rescuing the damsel in distress?
What are you talking about, Iruka-sensei?”
“Nothing.
Forget it if you don’t understand.”
Iruka sat down beside Naruto.
Although his anger had subsided, he still couldn’t resist reaching out and lightly knocking Naruto on the head.
“I’ll let it slide this time.
But if I catch you fooling around and ignoring your health again, just wait and see what happens.”
“Hehehe…”
For some reason, despite having just been thoroughly scolded, Naruto wore a happy grin as he scratched the back of his head where Iruka had struck him.
“What are you laughing for?
Did you take what I said as nothing more than empty words?”
“No!
How could I ever ignore what Iruka-sensei says?
It’s just…”
“It’s just what?”
Naruto lowered his head, hiding his expression from view.
Then he spoke softly.
“This is the first time anyone has ever scolded me like that.
It feels kind of…
kind of special…”
Iruka froze.
Remembering Naruto’s earlier words about not even knowing who his parents were, Iruka’s gaze gradually became complicated.
It was true that Naruto’s unusual upbringing had forged an unyielding spirit within him.
As long as he didn’t die young, his future was bound to be bright.
But that didn’t mean it could erase the wounds he had suffered.
Without parents, without a family, Naruto had never known the warmth of a home.
That was an unchangeable fact.
No matter how great his accomplishments might become in the future, his childhood memories would inevitably be filled with countless cold and lonely nights.
Unless his parents somehow returned to him, this would remain a scar he carried for the rest of his life.
With that thought, Iruka couldn’t help sighing.
He reached out and gently rested his hand on Naruto’s small head, softly ruffling his blond hair.
“You’ve been through a lot, Naruto.”
Naruto stared blankly at Iruka, his eyes gradually turning red.
Feeling the unfamiliar warmth of that hand on his head, he bit his lip hard, desperately holding back his tears.
What Iruka didn’t know was that Naruto hadn’t always acted out because he lacked parental discipline.
The people in the village had discriminated against and ostracized him for reasons he didn’t understand, even forbidding their children from associating with him.
He could only resort to causing trouble in an attempt to draw people’s attention.
Even then, it had achieved very little.
Only Shikamaru and Chōji could barely be considered accepting of him, while everyone else remained distant and indifferent.
Iruka, who had arrived in this world only three days ago and still knew very little about many things, had unknowingly become the first person to truly acknowledge Naruto.
And now, he had become the first person to truly understand him as well.
The atmosphere grew somewhat heavy.
Just then, Ayame happened to emerge from the kitchen carrying two bowls of ramen.
The moment she saw Iruka, her face suddenly turned red for some reason, further reinforcing Iruka’s impression of her as a shy girl.
“I-Iruka-sensei, you’re here too?”
“Yeah.
I was getting hungry.
Could I get a large bowl of tonkotsu miso chāshū ramen?”
“O-Okay…”
Ayame answered softly.
Then, seeing Iruka reach for his wallet as though he intended to pay before eating, she hurriedly said,
“Iruka-sensei, I still haven’t properly thanked you for what happened yesterday.
This ramen is on the house.”
“Huh?
How could I accept that?
You can’t just eat without paying.
Besides, what happened yesterday was nothing worth mentioning.
You’re such a beautiful woman—I’m sure any man would have stepped forward to help.
I just happened to be there.”
In his previous life, complimenting a woman on her appearance had been little more than basic social courtesy.
Even though Iruka had never placed much importance on social relationships, it was still a habit of his, so the compliment had simply slipped out naturally.
Besides, while Ayame was indeed a beautiful girl, he truly hadn’t meant anything more by it.
Yet those words caused the blush on Ayame’s face to spread all the way to her ears.
Suppressing the flutter in her heart, she nevertheless insisted,
“E-Even so…
I still need to thank you.”
Without giving Iruka a chance to refuse again, Ayame immediately turned around and headed back into the kitchen to prepare his ramen.
Clearly, she had no intention of giving him an opportunity to argue.
Iruka could only smile wryly and put his wallet away.
Naruto suddenly looked puzzled.
“That’s strange.
What’s wrong with Ayame?”
“Hm?
What’s wrong?
Is something off about Ayame?
I don’t see anything.”
“Well, you know, Ayame is usually—”
Thwack!
A yellowish-brown object suddenly flew out from behind the kitchen curtain, striking Naruto squarely in the face and cutting him off mid-sentence.
Before he could even pull the unidentified object away, Ayame’s somewhat peculiar voice called out from the kitchen.
“Sorry!
I accidentally sent the dish scrubber flying.
Naruto, bring it over here for me.”
Why does the timing of that thing flying out feel awfully convenient?
Is that just my imagination?
Seeing Naruto’s face covered in white dishwashing foam, Iruka nearly burst out laughing.
Just as he was about to help Naruto wipe his face, an unfamiliar voice suddenly came from behind him.
“Iruka-sensei, the Third Hokage wishes to see you.
Please come with me to the Hokage’s Office.”