Chapter 4: A good bowl of Ramen and Hiruzen’s observation
Prologue 3
A good bowl of Ramen and Hiruzen's observation
Walking beside the old hokage while wearing an oversized sleeveless shirt and half pants that belongs to a 10 years old, was definitely an unique experience. Not because the few people on the street were bowing down to the old man or sending me glares on his back. Not because the old man's distracting talk about a good and beautiful day. But because underneath my clothes I was not wearing anything. Even though I was a child, I still have the mind of an adult so it was really an unique experience for me. It felt like I had been walking practically naked with a large cloak covering my body. If not for being a child, I am sure I would be already leaking by now. But that matter aside, I was really trying to pay attention to what the old man was saying to me. I had to make a good impression on him in order to get out of that orphanage.
"So, are you interested in being a Ninja, Naruto chan ?" Hiruzen asked me.
"Well it sounds like responsible work. But can I eat as much as I want, if I become a Ninja ?" I asked him back. So far he has been busy explaining how glorious and cool Ninjas are. He has yet to yap any nonsense about the will of fire to me. I guess the 'will of fire' will come later once I agree to become a Ninja in the first place.
"Of course ! Becoming a shinobi will not only give you prestige and power, but a lot of money too. Then you can buy as much food as you want." Hiruzen answered without missing a bit.
"Well I guess then I will become a shinobi when I grow up. Thank you gramps." I replied to him when I noticed that we had come in front of a Raman shop. Surprisingly the store was open this early in the morning. On our way here, only a handful of shops have opened while there were only a few people on the street.
There were no customers sitting in the shop but from the aroma of the soup, I could tell that they had already started preparing the ingredients.
In my previous life my favorite food was omurice with pork soup. And in order to change that, the world famous Ichiraku ramen shop will have to perform miracles.
"Teuchi, how have you been ?" the old man pushed away the curtains in front of the shop as he took a seat. Then he glanced at me to climb up on the seat beside him. Without delaying, I did as he gestured.
"Oh, hokage sama ! And a new guest…. Please make yourself comfortable. What can I serve you ?"
"A miso ramen with eggs and naruto will be good." The old man told the famous Ramen guy and turned towards me.
"What do you want, Naruto chan ?"
"Same." I told him hurriedly.
"Alright. Two bowls of miso ramen with eggs and naruto, coming right up !"
Waiting for the ramen might be one of my most agonizing experiences in this life. Sleeping empty stomach or surviving a complete day without any food was better than getting tortured by the smell of the ramen being cooked while I was waiting for it. Maybe the old man realized that I was to excited for the food and not paying any attention to him anymore, so he decided to stop talking nonsense about the 'will of Fire' that he had just started.
Finally what felt like an eternity, a big bowl of ramen was placed in front of me. I didn't even say 'thank you for the food as I broke the chopstick and started slurping noodles from the bowl. When the taste finally exploded in my mouth I felt like I was really in heaven. It's taste even increased with me being hungry from last night. I didn't know why I had this feeling of the others watching me weirdly but at that moment I didn't care. After gulping down the food in my mouth, I started eating non stop.
…
The first impression Hiruzen got on Naruto was that of an isolated and timid child. But when she gave her the answer about her thoughts of becoming a shinobi, he was really surprised.
The child actually understood that the life of a shinobi will have a lot of responsibility in it. But then her question was about food. By now, Hiruzen has understood very well that Naruto was being mistreated by the orphanage. And the main problem was the food. The way she asked about the food, it was clear that she viewed it as the most important thing in the world.
Hiruzen decided to give an affirmative answer immediately. Unlike what he had seen from normal children, Naruto is definitely different. But her circumstances were actually stagnating her growth. That's why, Hiruzen decided to re-evaluate his plan to pull Naruto away from the orphanage at the age of five. He decided to do it earlier if Naruto showed enough maturity to take care of herself.
As they reached Teuchi's shop, he stopped talking about will of fire since he noticed that the girl was really enthusiastic about her upcoming meal. But he was even more shocked when Naruto took her first bite.
'How the hell could a child make such a face ?' Hiruzen screamed in his mind when he saw the four years old girl making a perfect ahegao expression after taking the first bite of her food. What was even more shocking was how lewd it looked. He doubted that even some of the most experienced whores could make such a natural expression.
'Stop Hiruzen ! You don't want Kushina to make your afterlife hell !' The third Hokage berated himself as he focused on his food. But by the time he gulped his first bite of noodles along with some soup, he noticed someone looking at him. Turning his head to the right, he was really shocked to see two things. First, the empty bowl Naruto. And second, the cute kitten eyes of Naruto, who was looking at him pleadingly. He just couldn't understand how someone could make such a lewd face at one moment and make such a cute face at another. Suddenly he remembered the first time he had brought Kushina to eat Ichiraku ramen. Back then, it's name was Kenichi ramen, which was being run by Teuchi's father, Kenichi Ichiraku. Back then, Kushina had eaten 35 bowls of ramen. Suddenly a shiver ran down Hiruzen's spine. He gulped and nodded at Teuchi, who looked very happy to gain such a wonderful customer.
Needless to say, by the time they exited the shop, Hiruzen's wallet was completely empty with a big debt on top of it. And Naruto had made the new world record of being the first four years old to eat 15 bowls of ramen.
…
"So what do you think about it ?" Hiruzen finally asked me after explaining the overall shinobi world while representing the shinobi of the hidden leaf village, righteous while others were power hungry and unreasonable. After leaving the ramen shop after eating a hearty breakfast, he took me to the top of the hokage mountain and showed me the village in the morning. I cannot deny that the view was good. But I also had some rough ideas about the darkness of this place. So when I thought that he was about to start yapping about the will of Fire, I enquired him for more information about this shinobi world. Needless to say that his explanation was very biased. But I also needed to give him some response that would make me look different from others. But I also needed to be careful about not saying something offending about the village.
"Well,..... How should I put it ? Chakra is amazing. But how everyone is using it is definitely stupid. I understand that if you love someone then you would naturally try to protect it. Like you said about this village. But if we could use Chakra along with other villages, then we can achieve many more things. In the end, this situation is really hopeless when all we can do is defend our loved ones." I said without looking at him. I was looking ahead at the village. It was not the most mature reply I could have given him but for now, with how biased his information was, I could only respond with a little bit of frustration.
\\Congratulations for completing a task.
Task: Getting on the good side of the old Hokage
You have successfully completed the task. Hiruzen Sarutobi was impressed by your mature thoughts. Impression level- 80 percent.
You will be receiving your rewards in the span of a week.
After hearing the system notification, I sighed in relief. The old man talked about the will of Fire after listening to my response. The way he was talking, I was sure that he was trying to convince me that I can change this world after I become the hokage. Of course I couldn't let go of such an opportunity. So I tried to give him as much positive response as possible.
After talking for the entire day, he finally took me back to the orphanage by the time of dusk.
…
Next chapter: A new apartment and a perverted mission
AN:
You can read 5+ advanced chapters of this fanfic on my p@treon AnimefanfictionIND for only 5$
Check out my other fanfictions
One piece fixing the future
Naruto Reincarnated Esdeath
One piece Sigma System
One piece Transmigrated as Nico Robin
One piece Rebecca
One piece Snake Empress
Side Character with Cheats SI Tenten
Uzumaki Naruko
That time I got reincarnated as a dragonewt