Knock On Wood Konoha

***

Chapter 1: :Henka o motarasu sawayakana kaze 
A bracing wind that brings change
***
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King Jr.
***
Present Day
: :Umino Iruka's Apartment, Konohagakure: :
There was hardwood under his cheek and a crick in his neck. 
The sun was barely up, far too bright for Iruka's state of mind, but it did manage to fight off the chill from the floor as he stretched and climbed to his feet.
He had class in an hour, according to the clock on the coffee table, and he'd slept through breakfast. 
It felt off to be going about his normal day after last night. After everything that had happened the last few years, if he let himself dwell, so he didn't. 
Self-preservation and all that.
Like the world hadn't just about ended because people couldn't get along.
Horribly simplistic, but really, what else did the nonsense about Indra and Asura boil down to? Two brothers, as different as night and day, and a grandmother willing to torture them to get back what she thought was hers. 
The story had been told countless times in Iruka's life. Indra's memories still contained deep within the blood.
They were all expected to know it, a right of passage, the duty of the clan. Although, the resurrection part was ridiculous. A shoddy attempt to make a happy ending out of a sad story.
A duty that had been their undoing. 
Their dedication to battling that terrible threat and the power needed to do so had ended up making them a threat to their own village in the small minds of those who looked on in envy.
He found a clean uniform in the laundry room and peeked in on Naruto and Sasuke.
Naruto was sound asleep, sprawled across the bed like a starfish, and probably would be for the next few days.
Sasuke...
Sasuke was in the process of climbing out the window, dragging a bundle of his belongings behind him.
Iruka caught him by the shirt before he could make the final leap and sent him flying back onto the bed with a surprised shout. 
He caught the bundle as Sasuke bounced and chucked it into a closet.
"Bastard."
"I know." Iruka pressed his wrist to Sasuke's forehead. No fever, most likely no infection. 
The boy glared, but his pain kept him immobile.
"No fever. You just need to rest awhile."
"I need to go."
Stubborn, stubborn boy.
Though there were many, many, who would point out that Iruka didn't have a leg to stand on in that regard.
He ran his fingers through Sasuke's filthy hair and watched his eyes fight to stay open. Even as a baby, he'd never been able to resist someone stroking his hair.
"I need to go." His words slurred.
"You need to rest. You won't get very far in the shape you're in anyway."
His pitiful glare made Iruka smile.
"Naruto's in the same boat," Iruka offered like Sasuke couldn't tell from where he was half-sprawled out across the idiot, who somehow managed to sleep through everything. "He'll want his weight in ramen when he wakes up."
"I hate ramen."
Little liar.
"Miso with sliced tomatoes, then?"
The look of surprise was insulting but not unexpected. 
"Every day you packed your own lunch, it was the exact same thing. In that little blue bento box Mikoto made for Itachi when he was in the Academy. You took it from him one day and refused to give it back, carried it with you everywhere." Iruka laughed suddenly, "You got so angry the day I took it away to clean it. You just stood in the teacher's lounge, glaring at me until I finished. You wouldn't talk to me for a week after."
***
Until the end of his days, Sasuke would swear the flush on his cheeks was from the non-existent fever and not the memory of that afternoon. 
There were so few worth remembering from that time.
Everything was separated into Before and After and seen through the lens of the massacre.
There had been days then when Sasuke hadn't been able to get out of bed for no other reason than there was no point anymore. There was no one to see. No one to walk to the academy with. No one to ask about Iruka's lessons or whatever gossip he'd overheard from his classmates. 
No reason to eat or bathe.
Iruka had taken to coming by after shifts in the mission room to make sure there was food in the house, that the water was still running, and the bills were paid.
Years later, Sasuke still wondered why it had been him?
Why hadn't anyone else paid attention?
Now he knew. 
They'd ignored him for the same reason they'd ignored Naruto starving on the streets.
And like Naruto, only Iruka had reached out.
The sensei had sat with him while he cried, had stood there and took when he was angry and came and found him when he was convinced it was better to run away and find Itachi instead of wait.
Itachi used to stroke his hair until he fell asleep.
The same way Iruka was now.
"You can't run forever, Sasuke." The teacher's voice was just a soft murmur. "He caught you fair and square after chasing you across the world. Give him a chance."
It was kind of intoxicating, being wanted like that, even when he didn't deserve it.
And terrifying. Thinking about everything Naruto had done, everything and everyone he'd risked, because he was convinced Sasuke was worth it.
"They're going to kill me."
Iruka snorted. "There are far more that have done far worse and been allowed to remain. Besides, they'll have to find you first."
Iruka had always seemed larger than life when Sasuke was young and watching him from the back of the classroom. 
Boisterous, emotional, out of control. 
The antithesis of everything a shinobi was supposed to be and yet so utterly unafraid.
He yelled at the Hokage and other shinobi who outranked him without hesitation, threw incompetent reports back in their author's faces, and somehow thought dealing with thirty wanna-be nin with no actual skills every day was a worthy cause.
They'd kill him, too. As soon as they learned he'd helped Sasuke.
Naruto might be spared, so powerful and valuable, but then....Kyuubi.
No one who helped Sasuke was safe.
Just like all the others.
Like his family.
Like Itachi.
There's no air in his lungs. 
No air in the room. Panic set in. His vision spotted around the edges, his muscles tensed to the point of snapping.
"Look at me, Sasuke."
And he did, and Iruka's eyes started to spin, and everything went dark.
 
***
Parents are the bones on which children cut their teeth. 
Peter Ustinov
***
 
When Iruka was young, he'd had no idea what to do with his life. 
His parents were shinobi, his friend's parents were shinobi, the whole village seemed to circle around the shinobi that protected it.
He's been five when Fugaku had offered to train him.
Far too young to actually understand what he was agreeing to but young enough to be curious.
Fugaku had stopped smiling by then. Worn down by a world that didn't appreciate him or his family.
It would be years before he'd ever admit to the things that Iruka now carried. Before, he'd helped bury Kohari and Ikakku and Obito and charged Iruka with an undertaking that would define the rest of his life.
But those first few years were pleasant. 
Hard, exhausting, really, but fun. The last years of Iruka's life that he would ever describe that way. 
It had gotten even better when Anko, Kotetsu, Izumo, Taka, and Yajirobi had started training, too, and they'd coalesced into their own little family unit.
Fugaku had named them shizukesa o motarasu yuki.
The snow that brings silence.
Or tranquility, depending on who was translating.
There was a special word for it in the old tongue. For snow that falls silently.
Shinshin.
It hadn't been used in general conversation since before the founding of the village.
Fugaku's generation had been named Akarui Hikari.
The bright light.
Kikyo's had been Raijingusan.
The rising sun. Way back when the Konohagakure had just been beginning.
Three generations of Hanta had protected Konohagakure from the shadows, and it had started with Kikyo and Tobirama and ended with Iruka the day he'd renounced his oath and the Hokage he'd given it to.
His uniform and shattered mask were packed away. Hidden, really. Along with all the other evidence of their existence.
No one had stayed after Iruka left. Too loyal and stubborn and lost in the wake of their faith leaving them.
The tattoo over Iruka's heart, the hiragana for Hunter, had finally started to fade a few years ago.
If he lived long enough, it wouldn't be visible at all. Although, given the average lifespan of a shinobi, it wasn't likely he'd see that day.
Iruka had trained his own apprentice before it had all come crumbling down, and he'd never had a desire to train another.
At least, not until now. 
Naruto could have been Hanta, but he would have been wasted there.
Naruto was made to be Hokage, with a heart big enough for the entire village.
Sasuke, though, was born to be Hanta. A dark-eyed, wrathful god of the battlefield. Equally capable of meting out justice and salvation, as desperate to destroy as he was to save.
Maybe when Naruto became Hokage, the Hanta would come back, and Naruto would have a force at his back that would protect him while he protected the village.
So much to teach and so little time.
All he could do at this moment was tuck a blanket around them and wonder if they even realized that they'd changed.
So wrapped up in one another it was impossible to tell where one started and the other ended.
Or that they'd changed the world while they'd been changing each other.
There's so much to tell them. About the clan and their fathers, how rumors almost led to civil war, and the great sacrifice that had been made because no one could see any other way forward.
That he'd been there the day Sasuke was born, the unexpected miracle from a pair that had thought they'd exhausted their last with his brother. That Iruka had been the second person to hold him and how terrified he'd been because he was so small.
Your father trained me, Iruka wanted to say. He taught me everything. I am made in his image.
I loved him, too.
All of them.
There are so many stories to tell you about who they really were. 
What they really did.
What was done to them.
About the others. Kotetsu. Izumo. Anko and Taka. Yajirobi. Kabuto. 
Itachi and Obito and Hiruzen.
Kikyo and Tsume and Shiba and Dai.
Sakumo.
Madara and the two Senju that had walked beside him.
And all the others who had come and gone before Naruto and Sasuke had been old enough to realize they'd never even been there.
Neither of them should have had to question their place in the village their families helped found.
His old photo albums, the only reminders he'd taken when the compound had been sealed away, sat in plain sight on his bookshelves because Fugaku had always said that's always the best place to hide something valuable.
He tried not to look at them too often. The pain makes him so angry, and Iruka had never been able to contain his hate. It spilled like a tidal wave over the rocks, slipping into the cracks and leaking out in the most surprising ways.
He's been on the verge of doing something stupid for years, and this false peace after that horrible war has only pushed him closer to the edge.
Only the gods know how much longer Iruka would be able to hold all the scattered pieces of himself together.
He knew one thing, though, as he looked at a picture taken all those years ago when there was still hope that things would work out. Mikoto and Kushina pushing their swollen bellies together and making faces at the camera. They'd had grand plans that their youngest boys would be best friends like their mothers. 
That they'd grow up together and fight side-by-side.
They'd gotten their wish in the end, but Iruka knew that neither woman would have allowed them to suffer the path that led them there if they'd been alive.
So, Iruka would do it for them.
He was long past putting the village before the people he cared about.
It owed them happiness, and Iruka was going to collect.
 
***
Soldiers, when committed to a task, can't compromise. It's unrelenting devotion to the standards of duty and courage, absolute loyalty to others, not letting the task go until it's been done.
John Keegan
***
 
Present Day
: :Torture and Interrogation Cells, ANBU: :
Something Ibiki had learned over the course of his many years in Intelligence: some people had a stillness that belied all else.
Those people were the most terrifying he had ever faced.
No human was immune to fear or intimidation. It was merely a matter of defining what kind to use and at what level.
But those who were still were like beasts. There was no motivation but survival. No temptation that could be used. No weakness that could be exploited.
They existed in a world no one else could touch.
Where pain could break the body but never the spirit.
Those people never broke, no matter what Ibiki and his people did.
It had been a long time since he'd had one in his cells.
In fact, the last had been Uchiha Fugaku.
Three days of Ibiki and his best and even the Council themselves and Fugaku had never so much as flinched.
Ibiki wasn't even sure he'd really been in the cell. His body certainly had, but it had no purchase over his mind, and as such, he'd been untouchable. 
And how it had infuriated Danzo. Ibiki had never seen someone so enraged.
Yakushi Kabuto had surrendered himself after the final battle, and ever since, he'd been a model prisoner. 
He answered every question, no matter how intrusive. Had allowed the Yamanaka into his mind and the medi-nin into his body and never made a sound.
He'd even assisted in the treatment of one of his sick interrogators when the man had a heart attack during his session.
Ibiki had been in intelligence too long to trust anyone, but even he was hard-pressed to doubt Kabuto's statement of reconciliation. His reverence for Uchiha Itachi and what he'd been attempting to do rang true. He'd handed over locations of old Akatsuki hideouts and Orochimaru's old labs. They'd learned far more than Ibiki ever wanted to know about the snake-like Sanin, including his obsession and terror of the Sharingan and his attempts to breed it outside the Uchiha.
The breath of Orochimaru's hatred had surprised even the Hokage herself.
And Kabuto was the first person Ibiki found that could put Danzo and Orochimaru in a room together, confirming Iruka's long-held suspicions.
That had not been pleasant news to break. Ibiki could still feel the heat from Iruka's chakra when he'd told him.
And now, the more he dug, the more he found similarities between Orochimaru's experiments and Danzo's...whatever the fuck he called what he was doing to the children he stole into Root.
Danzo was better at covering his tracks than Orochimaru had been. The ease with which he disposed of his tools made it difficult to collect evidence, and what little he had found was circumstantial at best.
Ibiki's bingo book was thicker than ever and growing every day he investigated. Danzo's network was far-reaching and dug in, and while the Hokage wanted answers, she also wanted peace.
He'd never officially put Sasuke's page in the book, despite the order from the Council and the Hokage.
He really didn't want the visit from Iruka that would have followed.
And the night after she'd told him, he'd found her drunk in her office crying, so Ibiki was comfortable telling himself she didn't actually mean it and had just never brought it up again.
He burned the pages on Sasuke's precious Team Haka at Iruka's request, though not before memorizing the important details. They showed no interest in Konoha beyond Sasuke anyway, and Iruka had promised to deal with them if they showed up.
Uchiha Itachi's page had been removed and burned without ceremony amid Kabuto's intelligence that the massacre of the Uchiha had been ordered by someone in the village. 
A terrifying piece that Ibiki had not yet had the courage to speak out loud to anyone else.
He was old and tired and not sure Konohagakure was strong enough to survive a civil war.
And...as much as he respected Tsunade, he wasn't entirely convinced she was the most powerful leader in the village.
It was still too easy to chalk it all up to Kabuto's feelings towards Itachi, which were openly adoring and left a tiny part of Ibiki in mourning for what had been lost. 
He'd respected Itachi immensely, even when he'd been young and jealous of the genius. That he'd never found happiness in this life would always be sad.
Ibiki had been alive long enough to realize that a love missed, to almost be happy, was the harshest punishment of all and that there were very few people in the world who truly deserved it.
Between that and the rumors about Root and the Council attempting to force Tsunade to deal with their enemies and this peace didn't really seem worth celebrating.
Yet. 
The Godaime seemed to agree, but it left the two of them in the awkward position of what to do with the information they were gathering. 
Now, as she sat next to Ibiki, eyes on Kabuto with a frown marring her eternally young face, he hoped she'd figured out an answer.
"What do you know of the Hanta, Ibiki?"
Only years of discipline kept him still. 
Even more impressive, Kabuto had no reaction at all, and Ibiki knew he could hear them through the wall.
"The Hanta?"
"Konoha's hunters." She managed to pull her gaze from Kabuto and looked at him.
"Only rumors."
She raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Not my department."
Amused, she snorted. "What rumors have you heard?"
"Nothing in years. When I was young, well, you hear ghost stories, but they never went beyond that."
She looked pensive, her gaze flicking back to Kabuto.
"Why the interest?"
"The Council brought them up."
Ah. Ibiki's eyes landed on the still shinobi. "I doubt that was a fun conversation."
"They want to put them on trial."
"You can try a ghost?"
"Unfortunately, it seems there's enough evidence to prove they're real."
Manufactured evidence, most likely, he thought.
"Kakashi is investigating."
Oh boy. Ibiki saw fireworks in the future. Big, explosive fireworks.
"I can have one of my investigators handle it. Isn't Hatake preparing to take your place?"
"No, the brat needs to learn to deal with situations like this. And his is one of the few reputations strongest enough to withstand the attention if he actually finds something."
He'd find something alright. All he'd have to do was get within twenty feet of Iruka, and things would go off.
"It won't be good for the village."
"I know. But we can contain it at least."
Doing that was what caused the problem last time, Ibiki didn't say. She thought like her teacher, like her ancestors. Too much inter-family training and not enough outside influence. 
Stagnation had destroyed the Senju. 
Blind loyalty had destroyed the Uchiha. 
They were so damn similar. 
Years of studying both clans and Ibiki still couldn't figure out why the hell they hadn't been able to get along.
***
Tsunade turned back to the T&I Commander and tried to forget the quiet missing-nin in the cell.
Despite conquering her fear of blood, she'd never quite been able to put their first battle out of her mind. For someone so young to have so easily deduced her weakness and then to work his way through his confused nervous system....until he'd been able to fight just as effectively. She'd never met another shinobi with a mind like that. 
He would have been an excellent medi-nin if he'd chosen a different path.
"I think he's telling the truth," Ibiki nodded to Yakushi as he spoke.
Personally, Tsunade agreed. Even before the war had kicked off, Yakushi's loyalty to Itachi had been obvious. But it would be a while before she was comfortable releasing him out into the world. 
"I can hold him a bit longer, but eventually...you'll have to make a ruling."
"I'd like things to calm down a bit first. We haven't even finished tallying the dead and the missing."
They'd probably never finish in truth. The war had been so large and the battlefields so plentiful all five Kages were struggling to identify all those who had been lost in their lands.
"He'll be safe here until you decide, Lord Hokage."
She headed for the door.
"Give him a book or something. No need to make another insane ninja."
Ibiki highly doubted anything he had could do that, but it was nice to know they were on the same page.
***
Present Day
: :Konohagakure Records Office, Hokage's Tower: :
It was impossible to hide Iruka's impatience as the clock's hour hand ticked over again.
How long did it take to find a couple of forms? He'd even told the chunin running the desk exactly where to find them.
There wasn't a lot to look through. For a village with a high percentage of orphans, there were heartbreakingly few adoptions.
Iruka had filed the forms years ago, and in the decade since, no one had ever brought them up again. Most didn't know, and Hiruzen had apparently never left a note to his successor. 
The Council had clearly never thought to check, or they'd have fought an entirely different war by now.
The original seals were intact when the clerk finally brought them over. Iruka had copies carefully stashed away, but before everything kicked off, he wanted to make sure no one had messed with the copies in the official archive. 
The clerk didn't pay any attention as he broke the seals and reviewed the contents. He was young enough to resent being assigned to the archive instead of actual missions, and he likely wouldn't even remember that Iruka had come by.
The script of the scrolls made Iruka's heart hurt for a moment. It was so rare to see their handwriting now. 
Guardianship of Uzumaki Naruto awarded to Umino Iruka by Sarutobi Hiruzen, as witnessed by Sarutobi Asuma and Hagane Kotetsu.
Guardianship of Uchiha Sasuke awarded to Umino Iruka by Sarutobi Hiruzen, as witnessed by Sarutobi Asuma and Hagane Kotetsu.
Still legally binding despite the fact that Hiruzen and Asuma were dead, and the Council would take Orochimaru's word over Kotetsu's.
Maybe he needed more?
Just in case Tsunade did look. 
Who would she trust?
Hatake, but he'd never agree to sign.
The Clan heads wouldn't risk their families lying to the Hokage.
Shizune had no reason to know, neither did most Jounin.
Well...most, but not all.
Guardianship of Uzumaki Naruto awarded to Umino Iruka by Sarutobi Hiruzen, as witnessed by Sarutobi Asuma and Yuuhi Kurenai.
Guardianship of Uchiha Sasuke awarded to Umino Iruka by Sarutobi Hiruzen, as witnessed by Sarutobi Asuma and Maito Gai.
He knew Kurenai well enough through Asuma to know she'd come to him before outing him for forging her signature, and though Asuma had never said it outright, Iruka knew he'd most likely loved and trusted her enough to tell her most of the sordid tale. 
Kurenai, for all her calm, collected loyalty to the village, would side with Iruka against anyone who thought treating children that way was okay.
Gai...
Gai, for all his seemingly boisterous simplicity, was someone whose honor Iruka found unimpeachable. He would confront Iruka as well, but he would also take one look at Sasuke's name and refuse to make a judgment without taking the boy into consideration, no matter what he had done.
He dated them back a few years and resealed them, slipping an alarm tag inside so he'd be notified if anyone ever opened them, then slid them back across the counter. "I'm done. Please re-file them."
The chunin nodded absentmindedly, shoving them all into one big pile he was clearly putting off. 
Whatever. 
They were legal(-ish), whether they were stacked on his desk or filed away, and Iruka left before the urge to lecture him about duty and responsibility won out.
He needed to pick up groceries on his way home. He'd forgotten how much two teenagers could eat, even though one of them was still unconscious. And he needed to make sure he had substitutes lined up for when everything kicked off. 
If the Academy was even back up and running by then.
The grounds still weren't safe for regular classes.
Which reminded him he still had grading left.
Maybe he'd just get ramen and worry about groceries tomorrow.
And he needed to dig out the old scrolls and see what he could do about the village wards. 
If he ended up doing anything about them at all. 
A week ago, he'd have left them to the Hokage and her people and let them struggle, but a week ago, Naruto and Sasuke hadn't been in the village.
And even though Iruka knew the people he really needed to protect them from were in the village itself, he still didn't want one any of the dozens of enemies they picked up over the years outside the Land of Fire dropping by.
Maybe...
Maybe...it was time to reconsider the Uchiha compound, even though the thought made Iruka's heart twist painfully. Living there without them felt blasphemous, and the terror of seeing their ghosts around every corner....
Naruto and Sasuke would be safe, but Iruka would never sleep again.
He was so caught up in his thoughts that he missed Hatake for the first few seconds. Thank god he noticed him before he walked right into the amused jounin.
Great.
"Afternoon, Iruka-sensei." His nose was buried in one of those disgusting books, and the amused air he always seemed to have around Iruka was present and accounted for.
Fucker.
"Good afternoon, Hatake-san." Manners mattered, his mother had always insisted, and he bowed deeply.
"Headed home?" Such a polite, innocent question in such a condescending tone.
No, I'm headed to the Pure Land to have it out with a few generations of idiots.
"Yes. Have a good day."
He turned to leave, but Hatake's voice stopped him.
"I see you still not over our disagreement from the Chunin Exams, sensei."
And now Iruka wanted to punch him in his perfect face. 
He ground his teeth and turned back around. "If you recall, Hatake-san, I apologized and admitted you were right. It's rather childish of you to keep bringing it up." 
You giant fucking prick.
***
"You didn't mean it." And Kakashi wasn't so noble that he'd pass up the chance to tease the emotional chunin, who leaned towards ruthlessly attractive when he was enraged. 
Kakashi had issues; he was well aware, but this one was mostly harmless unless he actually managed to drive the chunin to violence one day. 
Even then, the idea of Umino hurting him was laughable. Kakashi might let him land one punch just to be nice.
He admired that the academy teacher was willing to stand up for himself, for anyone, to anyone really. Even if he thought the man was an over-emotional fool.
Right now, he looked a hair's breadth away from snapping. A vein in his forehead pulsed, and Kakashi had the odd urge to lick it. Only the fact that they were in public, that Kakashi had some decency, and the fact that Iruka would no doubt attempt to rend him limb from limb until Kakashi was forced to hurt him to stop him, made him keep his tongue to himself.
"Would you like me to apologize again?" Iruka sounded like he was in physical pain just speaking. 
"Would it make any difference?" Kakashi mused, tucking his precious book away before the sensei decided to take offense to that, too.
***
Despite the desire to physically reach out and straighten Hatake's apparently liquid spine, Iruka managed to get out, "All of my apologies were meant with the utmost sincerity, Hatake-san." With a mostly straight face, too, even though it was a bald-faced lie of the highest order. 
Iruka had never meant a single one of the dozen he'd given over the years. 
Why should he apologize for caring about Naruto and his fellow students? 
Who cared if a few egos got bruised as a result?
The Jounin knew it, too, which was why he had no problem calling Iruka out. But he'd never filed an official complaint. 
At least not one Iruka had ever been punished for.
"Not setting a very good example for your students lying like that, sensei. At least practice enough to make it believable." 
It'll be believable when I smash your face into the ground.
Before Iruka could respond, another voice called out to Hatake, and they both turned to find a pretty female jounin Iruka recognized from the mission room.
She put a friendly hand on Hatake's arm and flashed a disinterested glance at Iruka. "Kakashi, I'm so glad I ran into you. I was hoping we could talk."
Talk, right....
He rolled his eyes so hard it hurt.
She wasn't known for being as relaxed with the rank structure as Hatake, and the last thing Iruka needed was any kind of negative attention.
There'd be enough of that soon enough.
Her grip tightened, and Iruka leaped at the chance to escape.
There was no shame in running away; the whole point was to live to fight another day, and Iruka had plenty of fights left. 
He only made it a few steps before Hatake called him back. "Our conversation wasn't finished, Umino-sensei."
Yes, it was, you gigantic silver-topped weasel.
Iruka's temper spiraled higher, but he plastered a smile on his face as he turned back. "I apologize, Hatake-sama. I'm late for dinner and need to be going." 
He even tried to keep his voice level, but judging from the amused aura, the killing intent had come through loud and clear.
"You should be careful about your tone, Umino." Apparently, she'd caught it, too, "You should show respect when speaking with a superior."
Oh please. Wait, shit, she knows my name.
He was definitely getting written up for this. 
"Shinobi custom is built on respect."
I know. I teach it every day, lady; if you ever showed any interest in anything but your status, you'd know that.
"Kakashi and I earned our ranks protecting this village."
It was always an odd feeling when his eye twitched. An uncontrolled movement that felt like someone was reaching over and moving his eye for him.
"We've earned your respect."
In hindsight, Iruka was incredibly proud of himself for not laughing out loud. Hatake was a genius, heir to an ancient line, and student of the Fourth. He was never going to be anything but a general among shinobi.
And she....well, Iruka had no idea what her background was, but judging from her attitude, she certainly hadn't grown up hungry and wanting.
He bowed deeply. "I agree. Respect is earned, Jounin-san. Personally, I don't think killing is a skill worthy of respect, but I assure you, as soon as I meet someone who has earned it, I'll afford them some."
Iruka formed the seals and teleported away before either of them could respond, but Hatake had definitely lost that amused air, and she looked ready to kill as he faded away.
Definitely getting written up now.
He was hanging his vest on the peg and making a bet with himself on how soon Tsunade would call him in to yell when Sasuke stepped out of the kitchen, balancing a tray with soup and a plate of sliced tomatoes. 
Over his shoulder, Iruka saw the photo albums spread over the coffee table.
"Find something interesting, Sasuke?"
"Sit down. I have questions."
Definitely Fugaku's son.
***
Present Day
: :Hokage's Monument, Konohagakure: :
Tsume took a deep breath, let the warm, heavy air settle in her lungs, and her eyes fell shut. 
The air tasted sweet.
It was the end of summer, time for harvest, and the scent of fruit and the last of the summer flowers would soon turn crisp and clean as fall came.
It was her favorite time of year, the changing of the seasons when the world couldn't quite decide what it wanted. 
Missions were few and far between, and even though it had been years since she'd been in the regular rotation, she still remembered coming back sweaty and bloody and collapsing in the soft grass to watch the sunset with Mikoto and Kushina, Dai dragging Fugaku along and Shibi and Sakumo bringing the good sake.
Drinking until the twitching of their muscles stopped and the constant wired feeling of being aware faded into dull complacency. 
In the winters, they'd curled up in front of the great fire in Hantahoru or Wairudohoru. Tangled up in blankets and each other when they were all still young enough to have hope that the future wouldn't hurt too much. 
When their Will of Fire still burned bright and eternal.
How young they'd all been then.
It was barely a flicker now. 
For a short time, it had even gone out completely.
A gentle gust of wind made her smile, and Shibi's warm presence rolled over her. The low hum of his insects always in the background. Most shinobi needed chakra-enhanced hearing to hear them, though there were a few with naturally heightened senses that may have been able to do it without chakra.
"Contemplating the world?" His voice was warm and low, and Tsume could remember the countless horrible nights it had gotten her through. 
When Hana's father died and Kiba's left. 
Those dark months following the Third Shinobi World War. 
The days following the Nine-Tails and horrific years following the loss of the Uchiha. 
Those still weren't over.
"Just thinking." She didn't have to look at him to know the expression twisting across his face.
Tsume wasn't the deep-thinking type. Never had been. She trusted her instincts like all animals and her faith had been proven time and time again.
That instinct had made her clan one of the most formidable to ever set foot on a battlefield, and all those decades ago, when Kikyo and Tobirama had formed the Hanta, the Inuzuka had been the second clan chosen to carry the mantle. 
The first had been the Uchiha.
Honō and Yasei, and later, they'd added Arashi when the Aburame had joined them. 
The flame and the wild and the storm.
The ultimate balance.
Kyūkyoku no baransu.
The instinct of the Inuzuka and the detail of the Aburame both fed into the viciousness of the Uchiha. Tsume had always launched ahead full throttle while Shibi waited for the perfect moment, and Fugaku annihilated everything in his path to make the opportunities that he wanted. 
Together, they were unstoppable.
And very soon, their enemies would remember that.
"I'm worried about Iruka," Shibi murmured, and it made Tsume snort.
"Anyone trapped in a shitty apartment with two hormonal teenagers is in danger." 
Add in that Iruka had to keep them hidden there, and he might as well have locked two fighting tigers in a box with poor Iruka stuck in the middle trying to keep the peace.
"Did you feel it, though?" She grinned. The feeling of elation hadn't left her since she'd felt the sudden rise of Kiba's chakra that afternoon. Hinata and Shino's had followed soon after, and she'd nearly walked into a wall in surprise. 
Hana and her council had thought it hilarious and then gotten straight down to the business of planning the next steps against Root and the Council.
"Shino said not to expect him home." The pleasure in Shibi's voice ran deep. "Iruka's apartment building may not survive the night."
"He should be back in the compound anyway."
"It is the safest place," Shibi agreed. The Uchiha wards were nigh impenetrable. Old Blood Wards brought from the first compound on the Naka.
"It's also his damn right." Leaving it empty was blasphemy when the Uchiha had been so obsessed with family and love and attachment. 
Now, they were all going to Iruka's apartment. Tsume could feel their chakra signatures moving through the village like moths to a flame. They were growing up, having already weathered more challenges than most would ever even imagine. 
And yet, there were still more to come.
Foreign enemies were always easier than those born from your own hearth, and though Tsume had great faith and vicious teeth, she still worried.
Iruka, temperamental, passionate, unable-to-stop-caring Iruka, was balanced on the edge of a knife. So strong and so smart and so lonely, just like his family. She wanted him to live on and enjoy a happy life, at least for as long as he'd suffered a horrible one, but none of them were any good at that. 
They always had to save everyone.
And Shibi laughed at the irony of an Inuzuka calling out a Uchiha for stubbornness as the reckoning descended on Iruka's apartment. 
 
***
To the living, we owe respect, but to the dead, we owe only the truth.
Voltaire
***
~tbc~