Naruto:This Time, I, Kotetsu Hagane, Will No Longer Be Lazy

The night deepened, and the bar grew quieter. The usual background noise of hushed conversations, clinking glasses, and the occasional scuffle had dulled to a low hum. Most of the patrons were either passed out drunk, nursing their sorrows in solitude, or had left to find some other way to drown their demons. But Kotetsu and Iruka remained at their table, the weight of the past keeping them rooted in place.

Kotetsu swirled the last of his drink in his glass, watching as the amber liquid caught the dim light. He hadn't planned on having a night like this—one filled with painful memories and unspoken truths—but he figured that was just how things worked in a bar. Some nights, you drank to forget. Other nights, you drank to remember.

"I hate the Nine-Tails," Iruka said suddenly, his voice lower than usual, like he was confessing something he had buried too deep. He was staring down at his cup, fingers tightening around the ceramic as if grounding himself.

Kotetsu didn't say anything. He just let Iruka talk.

 Kotetsu was about to change the subject, maybe crack a joke to lighten the mood, when Iruka finally spoke.

"When the attack happened, I was just a kid, you know? Too young to fight, too old to not understand what was happening." Iruka exhaled sharply, shaking his head. "They shoved all of us into the shelters—the younger generation. I remember thinking it was exciting at first, like a big drill or something for a festival. But then the screaming started. The ground shook. And I realized… they were fighting to protect us. My parents were out there while I sat underground, useless."

"You know... I don't really talk about my parents," Iruka said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Kotetsu stopped, lowering his glass. He could tell this was something deeper, something Iruka had been holding onto for a long time. "Yeah?" he said simply, letting Iruka take the lead.

Iruka let out a slow breath. "I was ten when they died. When the Nine-Tails attacked." His fingers curled into a fist on the table, his knuckles turning white. "I was in the shelter with the other kids—safe, protected—while my parents were out there... fighting. Dying." His jaw clenched. "I didn't even get to say goodbye."

Kotetsu remained silent, listening. This wasn't something you interrupted.

Kotetsu frowned, glancing at Iruka. He had never seen the man like this. Iruka was always steady, the reliable one, the guy who never wavered when it came to his students or his duty. But right now, he wasn't the calm, responsible teacher—he was just someone who had lost too much, too soon.

Iruka let out a bitter laugh. "You know what the worst part is? I didn't even understand at first. I remember being scared, yeah, but I thought… I hoped they'd come back. That they were just doing their duty like always. That they'd walk through that door and tell me everything was okay." His voice wavered. "But they didn't. And I was just... left there. Alone."

Kotetsu exhaled softly, his gaze never leaving Iruka. He had seen the man laugh and joke around plenty of times, seen him put on that dependable big-brother act for the younger shinobi. But this? This was a raw, unguarded side of Iruka he'd never seen before.

"I remember when they told me," Iruka continued, voice barely above a whisper. "That my parents didn't make it. They said it like it was… just another casualty. Just another name added to the list. Th-that made me so mad. To have the village treat my parents death like an after thought, filled me with so much rage I didn't know what to do with it. They had sacrificed so much for the village, so to have their death treated like that drove me to madness."

"Coz to me, they weren't just another name. They were everything." Then as if he said something funny he let out a small chuckle, "you know My mom used to make me this miso soup every morning before I'd go to the academy, even when she was exhausted. My dad would tell me these stupid jokes that weren't even funny, but he'd laugh like they were. And suddenly, one day they were just… just gone."

Kotetsu swallowed, fingers tightening around his own cup. He had known, in the way that everyone knew—Iruka had lost his parents during the attack. But hearing it like this, to know the person, was different.

"I was so angry," Iruka admitted, his hands shaking slightly before he clenched them into fists. "Angry at the Nine-Tails. Angry at the world. Angry at myself for surviving when they didn't. How could such a beast be left inside the village?"

Iruka let out a bitter chuckle, rubbing a hand over his face. "Now I pretend like I've moved on. Like it doesn't still sit in the back of my head. But every time I look at Naruto, I remember." He let out a breath, shaking his head. "Not his fault either. I get that. Doesn't mean the feelings just disappear."

Kotetsu didn't push. He didn't try to offer some half-assed wisdom or say that it would all get better. He just let Iruka talk, let the man unravel a little in the silence between them.

For a long moment, they just sat there, the cool air to the bar door against their skin, the village below them quiet in a way it rarely was.

Then Kotetsu finally spoke, voice steady. "You don't talk about them much, huh?"

Iruka let out a breath, shaking his head. "Never had a reason to."

Iruka took another sip of his drink, though it looked like he barely tasted it. "I hated the Nine-Tails. For years, I still hate it that damn monster for taking them from me. Every time I saw the damage it left behind, every time I heard someone talk about that night, it was like a knife twisting in my chest all over again. And then..." He hesitated, his fingers tightening around his glass. "Then I found out about Naruto."

Kotetsu frowned slightly, staying quiet as Iruka continued.

"I was so angry when I realized he was the container. Just a kid, just like me—but he had the monster inside of him. The same monster that took everything from me." Iruka shook his head, staring into his drink. "

Its hard to let go of hate, and I'm trying. Its stupid to blame a kid but... 

Kotetsu finally spoke, his voice quiet. "But you don't hate him anymore, do you?"

Iruka exhaled, shaking his head. "No. I don't. But I'm not like other people as they'll hate even a child. I saw him once. I was made into a chunin recently after a tough mission, they told me a couple things about village security and I learned about the basics of Funijutsu and about Jinchūriki's more, about the boy. I understood more but still didn't like him and his pranks. So I tried to forget about it and went to the market to buy a bento in celebration. There I saw it.

"What did you see." Kotetsu said leaning in closer.

Iruka looks around to see people not paying attention. "In the market, how a shop owner threw a mask at the kid just to make him leave. How the villages seemingly glared at him as a silent sign of support. Seeing that made me disgusted for hating him. I still can't say I like the kid but I know I would never act like that to the boy." 

To see how lonely he was, how the village treated him like he was some kind of disease, like he was the same Nine-Tails that killed my parents. In the end he's an orphan just like me.

Kotetsu stared at him for a long moment before nodding. "That's a hard thing to admit."

Iruka let out a dry chuckle. "Yeah maybe so.

Kotetsu sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Damn, man. You really are a better person than me."

Iruka snorted. "Please. You're just saying that because I paid for the last round."

Kotetsu smirked. "Yeah, that might be part of it." He paused, then added, "But really, Iruka… I respect the hell out of you. Not a lot of people could've come out of something like that and still be the kind of person you are."

Iruka gave a small, tired smile. "Thanks, Kotetsu."

They sat there in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, Kotetsu stretched, yawning. "Alright, I think I've had enough of this deep, emotional shit for one night. You wanna grab one last drink, or are we calling it here?"

Iruka chuckled. "Let's get one more. But you're paying this time."

Kotetsu groaned, but there was a smirk on his face as he waved down the bartender. "Fine, fine. But if we end up broke, I'm blaming you."

Iruka laughed, and for the first time that night, it wasn't tinged with sadness.