A day in the life of Naruto.

Naruto woke up and yawned, scratching his head through his over-sized bed-cap. He sat up, and listened as his stomach grumbled noisily. He'd gotten home late from a mission, so he hadn't had time to have dinner. He promised that he would treat himself to a ramen feast that day, as a reward for finishing that mission at all.


When he was dressed, he trudged into the kitchen of his tiny apartment. He pulled a carton of milk out of the fridge, checking that it was still drinkable. Satisfied that it was, he closed the fridge, taking a huge mouthful of milk. Milk; check. Now for the ramen. He opened the nearest cupboard, hand searching for his packs of instant ramen. His hand found thin air. Confusion passed across his face momentarily.

"I could have sworn I had more ramen . . . oh well, I'll just have to get breakfast at the ramen stall," he muttered to himself.

Shrugging on his jacket, he walked out, in search of sustenance for his deprived stomach.

He grinned as he arrived at the ramen stall. This was probably his favourite place in Konoha (especially when Iruka-sensei was treating him to the meal.)

He stepped up to the darkened counter and said loudly, "Hey! One bowl of ramen please!"

A tired-looking man stopped what he was doing behind the counter, and leaned toward Naruto.

"Can't you read the sign?" he asked, pointing to the side of the ramen stall.

"Sign?" Naruto replied, head turning to see.

A large off-white sign had been tacked to the side of the ramen stall. Someone had scrawled in bright red paint, "Closed".

"Closed! What do you mean closed?! WHY?!?!" Naruto shrieked, hands on his cheeks, looking for all the world like the Scream.

"Underneath the sign!" the man behind the desk snapped.

Naruto looked. Beneath the main sign, was another sign, this one saying, "We are sorry, but as we have run out of supplies, we will be temporarily closed. We hope to be back in business shortly."

"But the ramen . . . where has the ramen gone?!" Naruto yelled as if the world had gone mad overnight.

"What are you on about Naruto?" Sasuke asked, eyebrow raised cynically.

"All the ramen's gone . . . ." Naruto whimpered through waterfall tears.

". . . Don't worry, I have some at my house that you can have," he said.

"I can?" Naruto squealed happily, tears instantly gone.

"Uh-huh. But they don't come without a cost . . . ." Sasuke replied, an evil glint in his eye.


"Um . . . Sasuke? Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah."

"How does me eating ramen involve being tied to a chair?" Naruto asked, trying to loosen the knots around his wrists.

"Oh, that. Don't worry, Naruto, this won't take a second. Then you can have all the ramen you want," Sasuke grinned, the whip loose in his hand.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" Naruto asked nervously, as his team-mate slowly approached the chair . . . .


Several hours later, Naruto was stumbling through his front door, arms full of instant ramen, vowing never to go to Sasuke's house alone again.