When He Was Young

[Hrtofdrkns]

As Iruka readied himself for another hectic day of teaching at the academy, he went over a to do list he had made.

1: Watch over Rock Lee, give him lots of encouragement when Neji picks on him.

2: Make sure Hinata doesn't get scared and start to cry.

3: Keep Sakura from eating paste during art class.

4: (In big red letters) NARUTO.

Iruka sighed. The fox-whiskered boy was always brimming with energy. Unfortunatly, most of it went into fights, pranks, and other attention-grabbing stunts.

Oh well, might as well get there.

[*starfruits*]

“Oooi! Oooi!!” Naruto squawked as the auburn-haired chuunin strolled with idle conviction into his teaching room. The scarred sensei was greeted excitedly by a few, more studious members of the class, whilst others chose to keep their eyes upon the young boy clad in orange, together with a pair of goggles. The fox-whiskered youth in question was hanging out of the window, capturing himself in its frame as he batted two erasers together, billowing clouds of stifling and pasty chalk dust uplifted into both the boy’s face and the classroom itself. The blond blinked for a moment, large blue eyes squinting away the remnants of chalk, before he sneezed, and gazed up at his sensei with a grin, his act of defiance by standing on the outside of the window frame and batting erasers into the classroom rather than out was hilarious to him.

Grinning toothily, the rebellious youth beamed up at the young chuunin, clapping the two cushions together more vigourously, “Mornin’, Iruka-sensei! I’m clappin’ ‘em, just like you said!”

A number of chortles, tsks, and giggles issued around the classroom at that, and the Uzumaki boy blushed, and grinned more broadly.

[Hrtofdrkns]

"Very funny Naruto." Iruka groaned as he pulled the boy inside the window. "Now go sit down."

[*starfruits*]

Pouting a little as he was drawn and lifted back into the Konoha Academy schoolroom, the youth bounded out of the rising white cloud, coveting himself in the afterbirth of it, and sat down atop his desk, grinning and chuckling to himself, ankles kicking out ahead of him in his glee as his squinting gaze raised to Iruka with slight intrigue, “Yeah, yeah, fine. Sitting! Just don’t make us fall asleep this time, Iruka-sensei!”

Once again, the wooden entirety of the room echoed with a combination of youthful amusement, and Naruto felt warm, blushing and smiling in the face of the tanned chuunin's irritation.

[Hrtofdrkns]

Iruka settled in and started with the day's lesson. Strangely, Naruto seemed to really be paying attention, not giving him any trouble.

At least until Iruka opened his desk.

[*starfruits*]

Naruto gritted his teeth in vainly shielded anticipation as the chuunin’s desk drawer was gripped and uplifted. In a literal burst and flash, crackles of smoke and deafening pops exploded from the innards of the wooden orifice. Paper and notes were charred, equipment was smoked, until all that lay in the desk was a crumbling ashen spray of ashes, soot-hued wood, and the pink, empty cases of cherry bombs which lay sprawled and open like blossoming oriental lilies before the auburn-tressed sensei’s startled dark eyes.

After a long moment of suppressed chuckles, Naruto leaned forward, and smacked an open palm down atop his own desk, and outrightly guffawed at the sensei’s misfortune, “Hahaha!! You totally fell for it, Iruka-sensei!” The fox-whiskered youth gasped, and ducked his head, before rearing up to laugh even more heartily, “Y-yo…your f-face…hehe..it’s—!!” Sniggering, the naughty blonde’s eyes drifted from his desk and up to his teacher’s façade, which was stained and marred with soot.

[Hrtofdrkns]

Iruka wiped his face, then gave Naruto the sternest look he had ever given him. "That does it!"

He marched over to the boy, picked him up and held him under one arm, then carried him out of the class. "Practice your writing until we get back!" He called to the class.

[*starfruits*]

Naruto’s grin only widened as the auburn-haired chuunin stalked over, but once his scarred sensei arrived, stationed sternly before him, the kyuubi-host stared with wide, curious blue eyes up at the man, intrigued by this very different reaction to his usual impish stunts.

That look of surprise and wonder only deepened as he was tucked under a dressing-clad arm like a sack of potatoes, and blinked for a moment, rubbing at his fox-whiskered cheeks before he began to thrash about in the bronzed chuunin’s grip, kicking out and buckling like a wild fawn, “Leggo, Iruka-sensei!! I’m not a little baby, dattebayooo!”

The youth with blond tresses gritted his ivories tautly together as he stared at the class which seemed to diminish far behind them as he was removed from its entirety, and the boy swallowed, before he flailed more so, "Kusooo!!"

[Hrtofdrkns]

"I'm sick of all this Naruto. It's time someone showed you what happens to naughty boys that pull mean pranks." The chuunin said as he carried the 7-year-old to an unoccupied room, shutting the door and locking it behind him.

[*starfruits*]

“I’m not naughty! I’m not a baby, ‘tebayo!” the blond barked vainly, yet again, as his bare hands reached out to grasp and claw at the door handle as the two drew into and empty room. The academy student’s mind raced with his heart, and he struggled vigourously, the humiliation of being picked up so easily in front of his classmates, together with being scolded just so, sending him into a self-indulgent fit of frustration, “Gerroff, Iruka-sensei!!”