The Great Medic

4: Moving Along the Path

Naruto beamed up at him, "Iruka-sensei!"

He smiled, "Hey, Naruto."

The boy giggled before his eyes caught the bag in his teacher's hand, "What'cha got there?"

"Thought you'd be hungry by now." Iruka merely shrugged but could see the way his student's eyes shined. If there was something Naruto loved more than learning about medical ninjutsu, it was free food.

"Well, come in!" Naruto beamed, opening the door more so that the older man could walk in.

Iruka did as such, eyes peering around the apartment, pausing when he'd finally got a good look around. The last time he'd been here was over a mess ago when the boy hadn't been to school in over three days. He had opened the, surprisingly, the unlocked door only to be greeted by an absolute pigsty - there was a mess anywhere and everywhere you laid your eyes on. The smell of old, used ramen containers filled the apartment and it was hard to look at the poor condition Naruto's apartment used to be.

However, now, everything was presentable, clean, and extremely organized. Some pieces of furniture had been discarded and replaced by something new and less abused. There was a desk of dark oak on the far wall near Naruto's bed with papers and pencils placed delicately on it as if they'd be ruined any other way. On either side of the desk, there were two extremely tall bookshelves. One of them had notebooks with papers sticking out of them, obviously filled to the brim with notes while the other bookshelf merely had several books of different sizes and shapes, all being related to health and medical ninjutsu. Underneath the shelves was a small little footstool underneath them. Iruka pushed down his chuckle upon seeing that as he continued to take in the room.

In the middle of the room was a circular table with three red and orange pillows placed on the ground for someone to sit on. He smiled at it, remembering the old coffee table he could never get his knees under and the uneven wooden floors that splintered his clothed toes had been covered up with a simple, gray carpet. Many nights he had seen that old coffee table filled to the brim with ramen containers that should have been in the kitchen but just never made it there. Now, on the coffee table was just a small cactus in an obviously hand-painted pot. Either Naruto did it himself or someone gifted him it. Otherwise, it was cute.

All in all, it was a sight to see - the dead-last of Iruka's class, a previously messy kid, had somehow turned everything around to prosper and clean up his act. The older man turned to Naruto just as the boy was closing the door, blinking in curiosity, "I'm... surprised." It was all he could manage, still in awe.

"Why?" The blond asked, tilting his head. Such an innocent question.

"Your apartment, Naruto. It's stunning." He gawked, waving to the open room.

He furrowed his brows, going to sit on one of the pillows by the circular table, motioning for his teacher to take a seat as well, "What are you talking about?"

"Do you not realize how much you've changed? Wait, scratch that - do you realize how much you've grown?" Iruka asked excitedly, sitting beside his student on the floor, setting the bag of food on the table.

Naruto scratched his cheek in thought, looking around at his apartment. "I guess?" He ended up mumbling out before shyly looking up at the man, a bit of apprehension in his eyes, "Is that a bad thing?"

"Absolutely not!" Iruka beamed, "That just means that you are on your way to becoming someone very mature and that's fantastic!"

"Really?"

"Yes!" The academy teacher gave the boy a thumbs-up before patting him on the back, "I know I've already said this a few times, but still, you deserve to hear it. I'm so proud of you."