Konoha: Daily Life - by Tiggs Panther
Chapter 1: Conversations in the Pub

Disclaimer:
Naruto ain't mine. Any familiar characters are similarly not mine. They, and the Hidden Village of Konoha, are the creation of Masashi Kishimoto. Anyone new is my fault. The ideas are, too. (I doubt anyone else would want to admit to them).
Although major shout-outs must go to Fiona, Marc and Ven. All of whom are fellow Naruto-fans and whom I bounce my odd ideas off (and who sometimes bounce better ones back )

Konoha's main ninja pub was often busy of an evening. People came in to unwind, talk business or even to sound off about their superiors. Right now some of the Jounin assigned to the Genin teams were huddled around a corner table discussing their current charges. As usual some of the occupants of the surrounding tables were taking bets on exactly how Kakashi managed to drink whilst wearing his omnipresent mask. The contents of his cup were definitely going down but, somehow, noone could figure out what he actually did with the contents. Between the Sharingan and Genjutsu they thought he had an unfair advantage.

The barmaid was feeling rather uneasy. It was still only her first week in this particular pub and she was, understandably, still rather nervous about the idea of a bar-room brawl starting up in a room full of trained warriors. She let her hearing drift around the room, justifying to herself that if any of them really wanted to be unheard that they should have no problem hiding their conversations from a non-ninja.

In the table closest to the bar three parents, all Jounin at a guess, were discussing the drawbacks of having ninja-trained children.
"So I was halfway through reading Aki the riot act," said one a shaven-headed man, obviously partway through a major rant. "And I was just about to tell her what her punishment was and, POOF! Hatstand!"
"Heh," grunted the raven-haired woman sat next to him. "I guess they're onto Kawarimi no justsu then. Our Yoshi did the same thing this time last year."
"Yep."
"The twins tried that, too," commented the other man at the table, a redhead wearing a beaten and patched Chuunin vest. "Only when they sneaked out of the window there were two of me waiting for them." He grinned. "The good thing about the Academy is that if you aren't teaching them they are never sure exactly what you're good at."
"You?" laughed the woman. "Good at Kagebunshin?"
"Good enough to stop my kids bailing on me, mid-punishment. Anyway, you're hardly a scary parent. Why are you usually the one left to discipline your son?"
"'Cos last time I let my husband do it it was him who vanished mid-rant. Left a copy to babysit the kids and nipped out to play shougi with his old teammates. Only he had a little too much sake."
"Well your husband is famous for that," the first man said, a chuckle in his voice. "He can hold his liquor and he can hold his Kagebunshin..."
"...but he can't hold both at once!" finished the other two in unison.

One other thing that the barmaid managed to pick up from overhearing was the latest exploits of that Naruto kid. It was rather amusing hearing the difference between the ninja gossip and the regular word on the streets. The regular citizens of Konoha would say things like "He's not screwed up... yet," or, "At least he's not terrorising the streets as much anymore." Anything but admit to themselves that the kid was actually trying to make something of himself.

The other ninja, however, knew what had been involved to get him that far. That to graduate the Academy you had to be good enough. That, before this year, Hatake Kakashi had never passed a team. Sure many didn't think that Naruto would be a great ninja, but they accepted that he made it - even those who didn't like it. Plus a lot of them were privately (and publically) pleased that they wouldn't be spending quite so much time trying to round him up to take him back to class.

"...and I still remember the time when the little menace found a statue of the Second Hokage and drew a huge pair of..."

This is another of my infrequently updated humour 'fics. I do have some other chapter settings that I defintiely want to bring up. I just think that a "behind the ninjas" look at Konoha life was in order.