The Next Morning, Alvarcus's House
"Oi! Alvarcus you in there?" Konohamaru asks as he pounds on my door.
"No, I'm not." I call to him as I idly sip on my morning milk and toast. "Pretty sure I'm at Training Ground Seven."
"Okay thanks!" I hear footsteps fade into the distance.
"Holy crap did he actually fall for that?" I turn back to my half eaten toast. "Well, he'll figure it out eventually."
Five minutes pass before I hear the sound of stomping feet approach my door.
"Alvarcus that was mean!"
"Yeah I know." I briskly walk to my front door and open it. "What do you need?"
"Hokage wants to talk." His tone is biting. He still feels hurt from when we didn't let him go on the mission with me.
"Did... did she seem mad?" Please don't be about yesterday! I thought that was behind us!
"Only at the paperwork." He shares.
"Oh thank Kami. Alright, let's go."
...
Hokage's Office
I poke my head through the doors and into Tsunade's office. "You called?"
She sighs in reluctant defeat. "Squirt I need your help."
"This seems familiar." I stride into her office and plop down on a chair. "Did you make another bet with a client? I don't know if we can escape Shizune's wrath a second time."
She waves off my guess. "No, nothing like that. This is much more important."
I lean forward in anticipation. "Do go on."
"The students at the Academy were told that there would be a shinobi coming in today that they could ask questions and so on." She lazily leans back in her chair. "Basically this is to give them an idea of what transitioning from the Academy to being a gennin is like. We're trying to have the speaker be just a little older than the kids that way they can relate more."
"That's nice. Still not really sure why I'm here, do you want me to track the person down or something?" She should have picked Kiba or Hinata or Shino for that.
"He's dead." She bluntly informs me. "Killed in the invasion."
"That's a problem. But what does this have to do with me?" I think I know where she's going with this.
"In the chaos after the invasion no one was picked to replace the speaker." She smirks to herself. "That's where you come in. You're going to be the replacement."
"... Do I have to?" I don't want a bunch of kids asking me random questions. Besides, they should get someone who has been out of the Academy for longer, I've been out for less than a year!
"Yes you do. Don't think I don't remember how Konohamaru said you were good at explaining things, I believe his exact words were 'you're better than the teachers at the Academy.'" She grins evilly to herself. She picked me because she wanted to, not because she had to. I feel like this is a form of revenge. "Besides, the kids would love to see one of the heroes of the invasion. How can we deny them that?"
"Now you're trying to guilt trip me into doing this." I never thought I would be doing this today. Actually it doesn't sound half bad, it's been a while since I stopped by the Academy. I could say hi to Iruka while I'm there. "Fine, I'll do it. When do you want me there?"
"Let's see, you should be there in about... ten minutes." A full blown grin forms on her face. "Better get going!"
This is totally revenge for my stunt yesterday. "You really suck sometimes. I hope you know that." I dive out the window.
"I have a door for a reason Squirt! Use it next time!" She thunders as I fall through the air.
...
The Academy
I tentatively walk through the front doors to my old school. It feels like ages since I've been here. So much has happened since I left these doors as a shinobi and not as a student.
"Oh hello!" A cheerful receptionist asks. "Did you need something young man?"
I won't be fooled by her cheerful exterior, she's the first line of defense for Konoha's future shinobi. She has to be ridiculously skilled otherwise she wouldn't be here. No one would be stupid enough to leave the kids unguarded.
"Yes, I'm supposed to be a guest speaker for a group of kids? Still can't believe Tsunade roped me into this, I should be on a mission or something. Anyways, do you know where I'm supposed to go? I kinda left before she told me all that."
"You're... not what I expected." She replies after giving me a once over. "You sure you shouldn't be in a class?"
"Please, like you didn't see the headband." I roll my eyes. There's no way she missed that. "I didn't expect to do this today either. She told me about this five minutes ago. I didn't even have time to prepare note cards or something." Great, I'll have to play everything by ear. This promises to be a very unique day.
"Tsunade wouldn't send someone unqualified." The receptionist says. I'm not so sure she's right. "You'll be in classroom 2D. Good luck, you'll need it. Those kids are quite a handful."
"Wonderful. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction." Today is really going to suck. I have to let rambunctious kids ask me a crap ton of questions? I hope their teacher has a good handle on them.
I calmly stroll up to the correct classroom. I can hear the kids all chatting to themselves through the door, I must be the first thing on the itinerary. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.
I reach out and knock on the door. Instantly the voices inside go silent. Well at least they're excited to see what I'm going to look like.
"Come on in." That's a very familiar voice.
I walk inside. "Iruka-sensei?"
"That's the guy? He's like our age!" One of the kids says.
"Alvarcus?" Iruka exclaims. "They're giving me you? And I'm not your sensei anymore, you can call me Iruka."
I give him a warm smile and stride over to give him a friendly handshake. "Sorry, but after four years of calling you Iruka-sensei I'm not going to stop that anytime soon. How have you been? Got a girlfriend yet? I swear you need to get out more, you always seem so stressed out."
"That's the life of a teacher." He happily shakes my hand back. "Actually yes, I do have a girlfriend. I think. I kinda got... well she force me to date her. Not really sure how that happened, but I'm okay with it."
"You're okay with it?" I smirk at him. "Why? Is the sex-"
"Alvarcus!" He cuts me off with a scarlet face. "There are children here! Besides you're still a kid yourself! You shouldn't know about those things!"
I turn to the gobsmacked class. Their jaws are hanging open.
"Oops? Would you believe I forgot where I was?" I sheepishly ask.
"I liked it better when you were quiet." He shakes his head in resignation. "What happened to that kid?"
"Kakashi-sensei corrupted me?"
Iruka rolls his eyes. "Class, as you've probably already figured out, this is our guest speaker for the day. His name is Alvarcus Mar and he's one of my former students."
Whispers echo throughout the room. "Alvarcus Mar?"
"Do you think he's that Alvarcus Mar?"
"I hope so! I bet he has amazing stories to tell!"
"Hey, he's kinda cute." What the hell? Who said that? I am not cute! Cool, handsome, badass, majestic! Those are fine, but not cute!
"What's sex?" Oh my Kami the parents are going to hate me so much.
"AHEM!" A flushed Iruka silences the whispers. "So, let's get this started." He turns to me. "Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?"
I truly look at the students for the first time. They're on the younger side, I'm guessing they're in their first or second year.
"Well, let's start with the basics." I straighten up. "Iruka-sensei said my name so there's no need to repeat that. I've been out of the Academy for... eight ish months? That sounds right. I was a member of gennin team Seven, under the jonin Kakashi Hatake. I took part in the last Chunin Exams and made it to the finals so some of you might recognize me from there."
As I am speaking I'm looking at multiple kids. I'm trying to involve everyone as much as I can. If I'm stuck doing this I might as well do a good job.
"Let's see, what else? Oh, my favorite color is a piercing yellow, I like sunglasses a lot, I enjoy thinking of new and unique ways to improve skills I've already learned and I'm currently a teammate with Sasuke Uchiha."
There are a few hushed whispers at Sasuke's name. Even in the Academy he still has fame.
"I dislike a handful of things." I frown in distaste. "Heights for one, really not a fan of those. Also not the biggest fan of snakes. Oh, and I hate when strawberry seeds get stuck between my teeth."
"I have a couple of dreams for the future, but I'm only going to share one. Really it's more of a goal than a dream, I want to become a S-rank shinobi. And... that's all. There's some basic information about me." I turn to Iruka. "Anything else I should cover? Pretty sure I got most of it."
He turns to the class. "Any questions for Alvarcus?"
...
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