“Come on in Sarada, take a seat,” Naruto said as Sarada entered his office for their daily evening meetup. She wasn’t spending half of her day helping him get through his paperwork for now since she was busy training for the chunin exams with Sasuke. But she still took an hour or so out of each day to meet him and update him on her progress with training. Their meets usually took place during the evening right before Naruto would return home from the Hokage’s office.

“Tell me, how’s training with your father going?” Naruto asked, blowing on the noodles on his chopsticks before eating them. He’d already cooked a cup for himself before she arrived.

“Dad’s started focusing on training me to use my Sharingan to copy enemy jutsu proficiently and use the enemy’s jutsu against them. I should be able to succeed by the time the third round starts,” Sarada told Naruto.

“So he’s still probing your abilities, huh?” Naruto said. “First he focused on Ninjutsu, making you mold the Chidori in different ways and attempt the other nature transformation jutsu. Then he tried to get you to work with Bukijutsu instead of focusing on deeper aspects of Shurikenjutsu. And now your Sharingan …”

“What do you mean?” Sarada asked as she saw Naruto slurp his noodles from the cup of instant ramen.

“He’s throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks,” Naruto said before noticing Sarada’s gaze. “Do you want to try?” He offered her a bite.

“N-no, thank you,” She said. “I’ll get some on the way back from Ichiraku Ramen.”

“Come, it’s fine,” Naruto said, “I have a huge box of these instant ramen cups stashed here. Here, have a bite.” Naruto blew on his chopsticks after rolling up some noodles and a piece of meat that came with the flavor packet. Sarada showed some embarrassment, but eventually leaned forward and took it. An involuntary hum escaped her mouth as she ate the flavourful ramen. She opened her eyes when she felt Naruto wiping his thumb on her chin.

“You got some of the soup on your chin, it would’ve stained your clothes,” He told her as he wiped his thumb with a tissue and continued eating.

“It’s good …” She said with an embarrassed expression. “Boruto always refused whenever Konohamaru sensei offered to take us to Ichiraku, choosing that burger place instead …” She complained, making Naruto smile.

“You never went to Ichiraku before I brought you there, so you don’t know about its importance to me,” Naruto said, “but it’s much more than just a ramen place for me. I’ve been eating Old Man Teuchi’s ramen since I was barely five or six. I used to go there every day and spent what little allowance I had all on his ramen. He then ended up giving some bowls to me for free during the end of the month.”

Sarada felt an innate sadness in Naruto’s reminiscence, “Didn’t you have a guardian to provide for you, Seventh-sama?”

Hearing her almost naive question, Naruto smiled. “Not particularly, no. The closest thing that I had to a guardian was the Third Hokage, your sensei’s grandfather,” Naruto said. “Enough sad talk though. I doubt that you wish to hear my sob story.”

“No, I …” Sarada grabbed Naruto’s sleeve, her eyes trembling as she imagined the difficulties that her idol must have gone through in his life, “… I wish to know, Seventh-sama.”

Hearing Sarada’s serious tone, Naruto couldn’t help but laugh, “Some other time, okay? Once you become my disciple, I’ll regularly tell you stories about my childhood.” He ruffled up her hair as he spoke those words.

“You promise?” Sarada said, “I truly wish to know …”

“Would you like some more?” Naruto offered his ramen, “I’ll cook another cup for you.”

Sarada nodded, “Ramen sounds nice, Seventh-sama,” She said. “If it’s not too inconvenient, of course.”

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“Not at all,” Naruto said. “I show you how I make my ramen in my super special ninja way.” Naruto’s boisterous tone made Sarada laugh as she saw him pull another cup out of his box of ramen.

Sarada was waiting for Naruto to bring some water and heat it up but he merely placed the cup on a plate without even tearing open the lid and formed a series of almost ten hand seals with a serious expression on his face. He made them so quickly that Sarada wasn’t sure if she could track them even if she had her Sharingan active.

“Uzumaki Style: Super Secret Special Ramen-Making jutsu.”

Pfft. The girl burst out in laughter as she felt the noodles boiling in chakra-conjured water. “Seventh-sama, you have a special jutsu to make ramen for you?” She asked in disbelief while still laughing her ass off.

“You know,” Naruto said. “The you from a week ago would never have laughed so freely in front of me, no matter what.” Sarada instantly froze as a different feeling overtook her being. Before she could even part her lips to say something, Naruto spoke, “I’m happy. It means that you are opening up to me and trusting me. I like it …”

“Master~” Sarada pouted, calling her by his new address despite him saying that she had to wait for the chunin exams. She realized that Naruto had been pulling her leg, “I-I thought that …” Her chest felt stuffy, “I thought that you were mad at me,” She said with a choking tone. “I-I was scared that you would discard me for a more respectful and …” She didn’t continue as Naruto panicked and knelt in front of her to match her eye level.

“I was just making a joke made with bad taste, okay, Sarada? Don’t cry …” He hugged her, “You don’t need to be so tense around me, okay?”

Resting her arms on Naruto’s sides, Sarada started laughing once again, “Got you~” She said in his ear, resting her chin on his shoulder.

“I know,” Naruto smiled as well. “You’re still not good enough at subterfuge to trick me with your acting.”

Sarada pulled back from the hug as Naruto stood up once again, “Can I call you master from now on?” She looked up at him with shining eyes, “It’s pretty much official that we’re master and disciple by now.”

“Chunin exams, Sarada,” Naruto said. “Not before that.”

“Fine,” She pouted, “Can you at least tell me why you have a separate jutsu specifically for ramen?” She asked.

“Oh yeah, your ramen should be done in a minute,” Naruto said, grabbing the still-sealed ramen cup and putting it beside his ramen on the table beside the couch. “It is a very special jutsu, took me a long time to research as well.”

“Isn’t it just water and fire?” She asked.

“Much more than that,” Naruto said, almost offended. “First it has to be water that won’t just disappear in a few seconds, so I have to infuse a good bit of my chakra into the jutsu so that it lasts long enough. Then add fire to the same jutsu. The correct way to do it is with Boil Release which I can only use because I have access to the ability from the chakra that Kokuō, five-tails gave to me. To it, I’ve used Wind Release to tear open the flavor packet and spread the flavor evenly through the noodles. Lastly, the most complicated aspect. Yin-Yang Release. That flavor packet needs to be taken care of since it won’t just dissolve in the noodles. I can’t burn it since it would leave a horrible taste in the ramen. That leaves altering its very nature to get rid of it.”

Sarada was left wide-eyed at Naruto’s description, “Such a complex jutsu to make ramen …” She said, “You have to teach me how to perform Yin-Yang release as well … I want to be able to heal people from life-threatening injuries like how you saved Mister Gai at the end of the war.”

“Let’s talk about that later, okay,” He ruffled her hair, “Coming back to my jutsu, that’s the reason that my ramen can barely come close to the ramen that Old Man Teuchi makes fresh,” Naruto said grabbing Sarada’s cup and opening the cover. “Here you go, fresh and tasty, no need to mix it either. Hold it, I’ll get you a fresh pair of chopsticks, I keep spare reusable ones in my desk drawer,” With that, he took another bite from his own ramen. That took greater priority.

Sarada looked at the cup in Naruto’s hand with a thoughtful expression on her face as if hesitating whether to take it or not. Before Naruto could ask her to take the cup again, she looked up at him, “Hokage-sama …” She said, hesitating but seemingly gathering up the courage to ask, “Could you … could you feed it to me? That bite I ate from you was very good.”

Her words made Naruto smile, “Sure, Sarada,” He said, “Here.” He brought the bite that he’d made for himself close to her face, allowing her to lean forward and eat it from his chopsticks. Sarada hummed cutely as she ate her own ramen from Naruto’s hands and didn’t bother to even raise her hands to wipe her chin if something dripped since Naruto would wipe it off before she even registered it.

“I feel like I’m feeding Himawari right now,” Naruto said. “you’re acting just like her, making me wipe your face every time something drips. Even your excited expressions resemble her.”

Naruto’s words made Sarada infinitely embarrassed, “I-I’ll eat by myself, Seventh-sama …” She tried to grab her ramen cup from Naruto, but he pulled his hand back, refusing.

“You don’t see me having a problem with it, do you?” Naruto asked. ”I am feeding it to you until it’s finished,” He expressed his stubbornness as Sarada looked down embarrassedly after being called out like that. Still, she promptly ate the next bite that Naruto fed her before humming happily.