Twelve years after the fox attack in Konoha.
"-And from the snowy northern ridge~
There be a pretty lady a-waitin'
For me there!"
"-tteybayo Aniki. Why do you always sing?"
"Ah Naru, there has to be some constants in our lives," smiled the older.
"Like your damn eyes?" the younger asked. The older smacked him in the head.
"Can't help that. Tsunade-sannin couldn't do anything else. And you were the donor so my messed up eyes are partially your fault." The elder said pointing at his eyes whose color was hidden behind two pieces of different color glass, red and orange. His hair, long and shaggy black. He wore black pants, a white shirt and a black jacket. Around his waist was an apron.
"I can't help my eye color. Blame my parents!" the younger grumbled. He had slightly shorter hair equally messy but instead of black it was a bright sunny blond. His eyes were two bright blue orbs that matched the sky. He was dressed in the same clothes as the older except he wore a white bandana in his hair and a bright obscenely orange scarf that covered his neck to his nose. His skin was tanner than his elder who stayed fairly pale.
"Fine! Oh dear parents of Naru-Naru! I curse thee genetics who have given my otouto baby blue eyes!" he declared at the top of his lungs making birds fly away at his declaration. Naruto sighed and smacked the elder outside the head before starting to pull the cart behind him. The elder skipped merrily up to him.
"That wasn't very nice Naru," he said very quietly in a voice that would make girl's go wild. Naruto scoffed.
"I don't remember anyone accusing me of being nice."
"Well if you really don't remember… there was that old man in Iwa, that family in Kira that consisted of one mother, one father, one cat, three dogs, three sisters, two brothers and a partridge in a pear tree. Then there was that boy in Suna with the red hair and love on his forehead…"
"Ma! Okay I get it!" Naruto yelled making the other laugh.
"As long as you do. C'mon. We're gonna see Ojiisan today," he said with a smile. Naruto gave him a look that held confusion and a slight trace of fear.
"That means we're… we're going to Konoha."
Obito frowned. He wrapped his arm around Naruto pulling him into a one armed hug.
"That was then… this is now," he sang softly, "You're stronger now, than ever before. You'll fly high, and out of trouble. You're more than a bird, you'll soar higher. Day or night. Sun, snow and rain. Peace or war. There you'll be. Safe with me. Out of harm in your own little dance. Fear not fear not, for you will not be hurt again."
Naruto looked up at Obito and hit him hard.
"What was that for?!" he yelled. Naruto smirked.
"I have never pranked Konoha before," he said pulling out a bingo book, "Wonder who I'll hit up while we're there…"
"You and that bingo book. I knew we shouldn't have let that Momochi guy pay with a bingo book."
"Wasn't his name Zabuza? And his student was that guy you thought was a girl and tried flirting with?"
"Yeah… that guy," Obito sighed.
"C'mon it's not that bad."
"Not that bad? Ever since you got the damn thing you've been asking shinobi for autographs if they're in there!"
"Not like they can fight. I mean, there are enough seals that we're not gonna get hurt," he said placing his hand on the cart where what looked like a poster was located.
"… and I knew I shouldn't have let that guy pay with a fuinjustu scroll," he moaned.
"It was your idea to have alternate payment plans," Naruto stated.
"I know."
Obito lifted his head and jumped on top of the cart. He peered off behind them and smiled.
"Ya-ta! Customers! Naru! Prepare the pans and start boiling water!" he declared jumping down. Naruto gave him a look.
"And how do you know that they're customers."
"Fu fu fu-" he laughed, "Otouto, when you are as good a salesman as myself, you can always tell a potential customer."
"Really? Because the last eight customers I brought in. Not you."
"I softened them up!" he said puffing his cheeks out, "Now do as I say and not as I do!"
With that he began running in the direction of their "potential" customers.
Ten minutes later.
"Aniki I'm sure that's considered kidnapping," Naruto said as a giant sweat drop formed when he saw his brother carrying a sickly pale boy no older than he was being placed in one of the chairs Naruto had pulled out.
"It's not kidnapping. It's a sales pitch!"
Naruto raised a brow curiously.
"Alright it's gennin-napping. Happy?"
"He's a ninja?"
"Hai. I am a gennin of Konoha," he said simply with a smile that sent shivers down Naruto's spine. Obito didn't notice.
"Oh joy! We're on our way to Konoha right now. You should come with us!"
"That is fine and all… but your cart is facing the wrong way."
"Told you," Naruto growled turning the cart around. Obito looked at him indecorously.
"You did not!" he said with his voice going higher in the complaint.
"Hn."
"NO!"
"I am confused," the gennin said.
"You are not to say that accursed one syllable sound young man!" Obito cried out making Naruto look at him like he was crazy.
"I did not!" he said in the same way Obito had earlier said to him.
"Sai. What is going on?" asked a new voice that was more mature and possibly older than Obito. All three boys looked to see three people, a man whose face was mostly hidden with odd silver hair that seemed to defy gravity, a girl with long bubble gum pink hair and a red dress who was sticking like glue to a boy with black hair and black eyes whose hair reminded Naruto of a duck's ass. Naruto knew ducks well after he helped an old man get his ducks back (and with that Obito kept singing a song about a mother duck and her ducklings).
Naruto looked at the boy for a moment. His eyes widened slightly and he looked at the "customer" (who was now identified as Sai) and Obito. He then looked back at Sasuke.
"I am not sure," Sai said as Naruto kept looking back between Sasuke, Obito and Sai, "As I am sure you all saw, this man," he said pointing at Obito, "Just said lunch time and grabbed me. Next thing I know I am here with his friend as they argue."
The group of travelers looked at Obito who only gave then his trademark grin, "What? It's lunch time and even shinobi get hungry. You're still human after all. And even if you weren't animals and plants gotta eat too. But I don't know if a plant would appreciate our ramen and dango… and animals typically aren't good at holding a conversation… so people are the best to serve."
"Aniki. You got off topic. Again," Naruto complained. Obito looked at him from behind his goggles.
"Did I?" he asked. Naruto nodded as he walked back to the cart and began rummaging for something. Obito shrugged his shoulders, "Well since you are here why not have lunch?"
"We have no money," the silver haired man said quickly. Obito shrugged his shoulders.
"Alternative method. We give you a meal, you escort us the rest of the way to Konoha. We're going there to see Ojiisan anyway and given you are leaf shinobi most likely heading home we'll probably be near one another so it's more efficient this way."
With that he heard the clanging of bowls as Naruto walked out with Dango.
"What?" he asked Obito, "It's your job to make the ramen."
Obito smacked his head.
"Duh!" he said darting into the cart as quick as any shinobi Kakashi had seen.
"So you are from the leaf?" he asked. Naruto looked at Kakashi and pulled out his little black book.
"And you are… WOW! You're Kakashi Hatake! The Copy Ninja!" Naruto yelled. He placed the book in Kakashi's hand with a pen, "You've got to sign."
Everyone looked at Naruto like he was crazy. Naruto smiled when Kakashi actually did sign the book instead of throw it somewhere like he planned.
"Wow. Thanks. Normally I have to do some serious bribery or threatening to get people to sign this," he said in a calmer tone.
"Others?" Kakashi asked. Naruto looked at him and pocketed the book. He then passed around Dango for the team. Naruto didn't answer as they took the dango. He just shrugged his shoulders.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked not taking a bite of the dango.
"Oh. Naru. Naru Ichiraku," he said. Kakashi's one eye widened slightly. Naru. Not Naruto. He hadn't seen him in seven years. But what was the likelihood that Naruto Uzumaki was even alive after seven years? Damn his paranoia. It was almost as bad as swearing he saw Obito on various missions outside of Konoha in stores, laughing, and living. But that was not possible as Obito was dead.
Meanwhile Naruto turned to take them empty tray of dango back to the cart. Naru. Only his family called him Naruto because they wouldn't endlessly mock him for being named after a ramen topping and then being adopted into a family that had a living off of making ramen in which he loved to eat but was not all that good at making himself. They would call him their little storm since it always looked like a storm came through after he ate his fill of ramen.
"Ramen up!" Obito cried carrying bowls of ramen. One bowl in each hand, one on each shoulder and one on his head. He delivered the famously large bowls to their "customers" and gave one to Naruto who gave him a look. Obito smiled pulling down his scarf in a way that no one could see his face and pinched his cheeks.
"You got to eat up to and become big and strong!" he cooed with Naruto holding the bowl in his hand. He tried to bite him, but his back was turned to the team so they could not see his face. Obito held up his hands in defeat as Naruto inhaled the ramen at a speed Kakashi was even impressed with and pulled his scarf back over his nose. The eyes of Sasuke and Sakura twitched.
'He's just like Kakashi,' they thought. They looked at their sensei and began twitching again realizing he had finished his meal.
"Well, it's not like Ichiraku's in Konoha but not bad. The dango was surprisingly decent," Kakashi stated. Naruto scoffed.
"Tell that to the crazy Konoha snake lady who keeps coming here."
"What? Oh! I know, the one who we called our frequent eater. Yeah, somehow we always seem to run into her," Obito commented, "What was her name. Aki? Aka? No… Wait Anko! Her name was Anko!"
"Yeah. She always seems to eat us out of our dango," Naruto muttered.
"She even stole my dango. It was horrible. I had to live on ramen for a week! How Naru-Naru can do it is beyond me," he complained. A few minutes later everyone declared themselves done except the dark haired boy who had been introduced as Sasuke who had merely said 'Hn.' Making life all the more difficult for Naruto as he had to stop his idiotic brother from his usual rant. He had a feeling that this guy would not stop saying 'hn' so better just to stop his brother and hurry along to Konoha.
-.-
"Oh! I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee~"
"Oh Kami make him shut up," Sakura muttered covering her ears.
"-won't my mommy be so proud of me!"
"It doesn't work that way-"
"I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee!"
"You should have never mentioned bees."
"Ow! It stung me!"
"Thank Kami it's over," Sasuke sighed.
"I'm squishing up my baby bumblebee!"
"No!"
"Won't my mommy be so proud of me!"
"Can't you do something Kakashi-sensei?"
"I'm squishing up my baby bumblebee!"
"He's a client. So that would be a no."
"Ew… I'm licking up my baby bumblebee!"
"I told you not to talk unless to avoid a subject-"
"Won't my mommy be so proud of me!"
"-otherwise Aniki finds a song."
"I'm licking up my baby bumblebee!"
"How do you stand this?" Sakura questioned.
"Ugh… I don't feel so good..."
"You get used to it. I guess it's good training for if I ever have a mother-in-law."
"I'm puking up my baby bumblebee!..."
-.-
"Wow! We were a lot closer to Konoha than I thought!" Obito said with a smile. The young team sighed with relief. No more crazy songs. Sasuke looked over at Naruto. He was a worthy rival if only to test limits of the mind.
"Yes. You weren't very far… what is on your cart?" Kakashi asked.
"Oh these?" Obito asked, "They're seals. Never know when you might get jumped when you're traveling!"
"Seals?"
"Uh huh! Naru-Naru is really good at making them. He practices a lot. So we have plenty for our supplies and protection… Oh crap!" he said pulling out a pocket watch, "WE'RE LATE!" he yelled grabbing Naruto and dragging him off in the direction of Konoha's famous ramen shop.
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