The blonde kid didn't spare me another glance and rocketed past me, jumping onto a seat with a small laugh.

*smack!*

Naruto slapped a couple of coins on the table the moment he got on the seat.

"Miso Ramen with extra pork please!" He said, rubbing his hands together, warming them from the creeping cold of the night.

I slid into the seat next to him and looked at the woman heading the stall, "I'll have one of the same please." I said, looking at the menu for the price and placing the appropriate coins on the table.

The woman smiled and nodded smugly, "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist! Two Miso Ramens with extra pork coming right up!" she said, scooting off to the kitchen. Before a lull of silence could fall on us, Naruto started singing to himself while rocking his seat to and fro.

"Ramen, ramen... gonna have some ramen... hehe... can't wait..." The wide smile he had on his face started to hurt my cheeks just by looking at it, if he keeps this smile up, the boy's gonna have wrinkles by the time he's a teenager.

To most, this might seem like a stupid kid doing stupid kid things, but I had a suspicion that something more was at play. Aside from the one moment where he touted the restaurant's quality, he hadn't even looked at me once.

'Maybe he's ignoring me, trying to have his own fun instead of having to speak to me and gamble how I'd react to him...' I guessed

Finding the Ichiraku Ramen shop was part of a plan I wanted to enact after I completed a few missions. Once I found it, I would then commence "Operation Ra-manhunt" to try and bump into Naruto at the shop, but since the stars aligned for a fateful encounter between us two, I wouldn't waste this chance.

I was glad that I had already come up with a few talking points and ways to make him acclimate to me, it was important that our first proper meeting be a good one.

"So... you've had Ramen from here before?" I asked tentatively, testing the waters to see how he'd react.

Naruto turned to me, his smile widened as he nodded frantically, "Yeah yeah! It's delicious! The best ramen in the whole Leaf village! Believe it!" he said, gripping the edge of his seat while he continued to rock back and forth excitedly.

'He's comically excited for Ramen...' I noticed that it was a different beast altogether when seeing a real child act this way, strange happenings in anime can be glossed over, but it's not that easy in reality.

I hummed thoughtfully at his statement and looked at the menu with a questioning gaze, "I dunno kid, Kenzo's Noodle Shop next to Yakiniku has really good Ramen, there's no way this little shop can beat that!"

Naruto's smiling face instantly dropped as he hung his mouth open with a little snarl. I bet he was trying to look tough, but the kid looked closer to a cat that licked a lemon than a gangster.

"Ehh?! What'd you say? Hey, just because you're older than me doesn't mean you can disrespect Ichiraku's ya know! Once you take one sip of the special, yummy broth, you'll know just how stupid you were!" he declared, pointing a finger at me with a small scowl.

At his outburst, I just raised an eyebrow and hummed a high-pitched, "Hmm?" which made the kid almost jump out of his seat. I could tell that he was about to go off on a whole spiel about Ramen when he noticed the bags I was carrying, filled to the brim with my purchases.

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"Woah... hey mister... why'd you buy a kunai? Can we buy them if we aren't ninjas? Isn't that illegal? Woah! Are you a criminal!? That's bad ya know! If you're a criminal the Hokage'd catch you and beat you up! Ya know, I've met the Hokage before, he's an old man but he smells kinda weird, and he's always smoking this weird stick thing! I think it's a hidden weapon or something, ya know? Why else would he-"

'He just yaps on forever huh, perhaps this is where the fabled talk no Jutsu's origins lie.'

Worried that he'd take up all of our time by speaking about useless things, I interrupted him with a statement of my own.

"How could it be illegal? Anyone can buy kunai, and even if it were illegal, I'm a ninja so I'd be fine."

Naruto shut up as his eyes grew wide, he slammed his hands on the table and pushed off to take a closer look at my forehead, before sinking back into his seat with a smile.

"Heh, you're lying... real ninjas have their forehead protector on, but you've just got hair there!" He said, pointing a finger at my head and stroking his chin with the other. He acted so smug you'd think he solved a great mystery.

I sighed and reached into my pocket, unfurling my headband and tying it around my head. When I turned to Naruto he had twinkling eyes as he reached for my head with outstretched fingers, his hand almost gravitating towards the headband instinctively.

I pulled my head back as he grabbed for it, Naruto seemed to be shocked by my response and flew back into his seat, his joyful expression from before nowhere to be found.

"O-oh... sorry, I didn't mean to..." he said, a lot quieter than before, he refused to meet my eyes afterwards and averted his gaze.

Without a word, I undid my headband and gripped it with one hand, presenting it to the now-saddened Naruto.

"There's nothing to be sorry about kid, the thing's just a pain to clean so hold it around the fabric alright? I just wanted to stop you from touching the metal." I said, getting Naruto's attention as his mouth hung open at the offer.

Without another word, perhaps afraid I'd change my mind, he reached out with both hands and gingerly took the headband into his own. He treated it as if it were a treasure, fiddling with the straps, getting a feel for its weight and lightly rubbing the fabric with a silly grin.

"Woah... this is so cool!" He said, taking the ends of the headband and pulling them apart, he spread them out and placed them over his forehead, not tying it around, but just letting the headband hover above his eyes.

Naruto hesitatingly started to speak, tentatively requesting something I was sure he would ask, "Hey um... can I try and put it o-"

"Nope." I interrupted his request, afraid it might sound too cold I had a subtle smile on my face as I stopped him from asking.

Before the boy could get depressed again, I lightly chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, making him almost jump right up.

"From the sound of it, you wanna be a ninja too, right?" I asked, earning a frantic nod from Naruto.

I nodded back with a small smile, "Good, then you shouldn't put it on. Work hard in the Academy and earn one for yourself, I bet it'll feel a thousand times cooler than this one." I promised him, taking back the headband he placed on the table and tying it around my forehead to make a point.

Naruto watched me put it on and lightly nodded, it took a moment before he started to speak again, "Alright... I'll start paying more attention in class then... then I'm gonna get good grades, no wait... the best grades! And then I'll graduate quickly and get my own headband! It's only a matter of time! Believe it!" He said, raising his voice and fists in the air, laughing a little as he made the oath.

I nodded back, "Sure kid, I believe you."

When I said this Naruto looked at me with a strange expression, a half smile that I couldn't quite place what he meant by. I smiled back in response, with a guess as to why he was acting this way.

'He's probably surprised I'm being nice to him, saying that I believe in the kid must've affected hi-'

"Why'd you keep calling me kid? You talk like Gramps does even though you're just a kid too... it's creepy ya know?!" He said, his face twisting back into the lemon-licking cat scowl.

'...'

"Do you wanna fig-"

"Two miso ramens with extra pork- Eh? What'd you say?" The woman asked as she burst into the scene announced.

"I asked him if he wanted seconds..." I came up with an excuse begrudgingly, shooting a small glare at the blonde brat.

Naruto's laugh afterwards just made me wanna fight him some more.