Naruto groaned as he laid his forehead on his crossed arms. He was exhausted and only wanted to go home. It's starting to feel like a long day and he only wanted it to end, sooner rather than later. He had been placed in this interrogation room for the last hour and a half, and no one had come to see him. He was bone tired and ready just to get this over and done with.
When a dull clunk came from above his blond head, Naruto's head flew up startled when he found a mug of coffee placed before him. Looking up at the person who placed the mug before him was an elderly man. He wore a black business suit with a maroon tie with a leaf shaped tie clip. The man was tanned with crows feet and a receding hairline. Naruto blinked startled, staring up at the man who came out of nowhere.
"Where did you come from?" Naruto asked confused. The older man sat down in the metal chair opposite Naruto.
"Here in Konoha." the man said smiling. Naruto snorted amused and shook his head.
"That's not what I meant." he said taking a sip of his coffee.
"We are the anbu, you won't know we're coming until it's too late." the old man said giving Naruto a kind smile. The blond glanced around nervously.
"I'll remember that," he said shifting uncomfortably in his chair. "So when will I be able to go home?"
"Soon, I promise." the old man said leaning forward. "I just want to talk to you first." With that, the man bent to the side reaching towards the floor and brought up a thick file.
"Is that mine?" Naruto nodded towards the file.
"Yes, we've had one of you since you were born." the old man said.
"Why?" Naruto asked.
"Unfortunately, that information is classified, you will have to be part of the anbu and have top level access to have access to this information." the old man said.
"It's about me, so shouldn't I have the right to it?" Naruto asked glaring at the old man.
"Not in this instance, you are not ready for it." the older man said. "Though I think you're old enough to find out, but you can't do that as a civilian."
"You want me to join the anbu?" Naruto asked clutching the coffee cup in his hands. The old man smiled nodding his white head. Naruto gave the man a full glare.
"No, I refuse," Naruto said causing the old man to raise a brow. "I worked hard to become a cook, I don't want to be an anbu agent, thank you very much, I'm sure the information is not that important." draining his cup of coffee, Naruto stood. "I would like to go home now."
"Yes, you're going to have to find another job, if I'm correct." the old man said opening the file to look at something in it. Naruto clenched his teeth looking away. "Though I do have a great proposition for you if you'll consider it." Naruto bit his bottom lip, closing his eyes and taking a calming breath.
"Fine, I'm listening," Naruto said stone-faced. Lifting something from the file in front of him, the old man placed a couple of photos before Naruto. The blond glanced down at the pictures to see a really famous but quaint little ramen shop. Next to it was a picture of a middle-aged man with mouse brown hair under a simple white cloth hat.
"This is Ichiraku Ramen, the world famous for their amazing Ramen, and this is Teuchi Ichiraku, the owner, and cook." the old man said before he placed another picture of a smiling young lady with the same mouse brown hair as Teuchi. "This is his daughter, Ayame Ichiraku, she serves the food. Unfortunately, Teuchi's health is failing him so he can't cook for a long while. I told him about you and he's willing to give you a try."
"Really?" Naruto asked doubtfully.
"The only requirement is that you have to sign up for the anbu." the old man said. An annoyed look formed on Naruto's face.
"Knew it was too good to be true," he mumbled crossing his arms. "No way."
"You know if you become a full-fledged anbu, the information in this file will be opened to you." the old man said waving Naruto's file trying to win him over.
"It's all about my life anyway and I've lived my life, so I'm not interested." the blond said turning his head away. The old man sighed shaking his head tiredly, what a tough customer.
"It's the best chance of getting this job, and I know you will need one quickly, plus I know you love ramen and you can have as much as you want after your shift." Naruto blinked before a river of drool began running down his chin.
"Oh man, as much ramen as I can eat?" he asked dreamily as a large pool began to form under him, making the old man lift his feet so it wouldn't touch him. He twitched back looking at the blond instantly when Naruto slammed his hand on the tables metal surface.
"Alright sign me up, where do I sign." he said a large goofy grin on his face.
"Free ramen won you over?" The old man asked surprised.
"Wow for a guy who knows everything about me, you sure don't know how much I love ramen," Naruto said with a cheeky smile snickering. The old man sighed face palming. He looked up with he heard a scrap and watched as Naruto took his seat again.
"So where do I sign?" the blond asked. The old man blinked at the blond for a long moment before he brought out a small stack of papers and placed it in front of Naruto.
"Just fill these out and you'll be done." the old man said placing a pen next to the forms.
"What, there's so many," Naruto whined slumping in his seat.
"Most you just have to read through." the old man said standing up. "I'll be back for them a little later, take as much time as you need." Then he placed one more single form. "This is the Ichiraku job, I'll collect them all later, and I will have someone take you home." Naruto nodded picking up the pen and began reading the first page of the anbu form.
)()()()()()()(
Naruto groaned as an annoying ringing brought him from the land of dancing ramen, which was soon gobbled up by said blond. Lifting his head from his pillow, he began to look around for the source of the ringing. He didn't own a phone and it didn't sound quite right to be his old classic metal alarm clock, even though it came from the same direction.
There sitting next to his alarm clock, ringing and vibrating was a cellphone, one of those expensive smartphone. Picking it up, Naruto took a look at the screen. It was the picture of the old man with the name of Hiruzen Sarutobi in black above the picture. Naruto pressed the green button and pressed it to his ear.
"So, your Hiruzen Sarutobi," Naruto said into the device. A chuckle came through from the other side.
"Did I forget to introduce myself?" the old man's amused voice came through the speaker.
"You know very well that you did that on purpose," Naruto commented getting out of his bed, heading to his kitchenette to start the kettle.
"Yes, I did," Sarutobi said giving another chuckle.
"Did someone forget their phone?" Naruto asked placing bread in his toaster and grabbing one of his ramen cups waiting for the water to boil.
"No, it's yours. It'll be a little easier to get in contact with you." Sarutobi said. Grabbing the butter from his tiny fridge, Naruto collected his cutlery and plate from his cupboard.
"So why the call, not that talking to you is unpleasant, but was having a very lovely dream, before you called." He said.
"I was calling to let you know that Teuchi would like you to start working for him tomorrow at eight." the old man said.
"Ok, I'll be there," Naruto said.
"Good luck then. I'll send you a text of when you are to come in for your training." the old man said. Hearing the click of the kettle, Naruto glanced down at it before he turned to his ramen cup, peeling back the paper lid.
"I'll be waiting for it." He said.
"Good, have a good day Naruto," Sarutobi said.
"Bye," Naruto said bringing the phone away from his ear and hung up. Taking a seat at his small dining table, he was about to enjoy a good slurp of ramen, the metallic ringing startled him enough to making him drop his chopsticks. Getting up scowling at his alarm clock as he hurried over to shut it off.
()()()()()()()
"So you got a new job did you?" Iruka Umino asked. He and Naruto were sitting having dinner at a burger at a cheap fast food restaurant.
"Yeah, and I only had to do one thing," Naruto said before he took a bite of his burger. The brunette raised an eyebrow as he dipped a fry in ketchup.
"What would that be?" he asked curiously. Naruto looked up at Iruka for a long moment before he looked down at his burger before he swallowed his food. He indicated for Iruka to come closer glancing around the empty restaurant.
"It's a secret," Naruto said. "You can't tell anyone." Iruka blinked startled before he nodded.
"I promise." he said leaning forward.
"I had to join the anbu," Naruto whispered. Iruka drew back startled before he glared at the blond.
"Stop joking, Naruto, that's not a thing to joke about." Iruka scolded.
"I'm not joking Iruka, I really did have to join them," Naruto said. Iruka stared at the blond for a long moment.
"You're telling me the truth?" Iruka asked and Naruto nodded before taking another bite of his burger. "Why on earth would you do that Naruto, you know the stories."
"I know, but you know how hard it is to get a job like I had before," Naruto said. "If I have to work for them to have a great job at a famous restaurant, it'll be worth it." Iruka sighed. He knew what Naruto was saying was right.
"Just be careful, alright?" Iruka said after a long moment of silence. Naruto looked up at his old high school teacher before he gave the brunette a reassuring smile.
"Don't you worry Iruka Sensei, I'll be careful." He said. Iruka nodded smiling back before he took a bite of his ketchup cover fry.
"So." Naruto drew the older man's attention. "I heard that you're going out with someone." He watched as the brunette blushed looking away.
"Yes," Iruka said before biting into his own burger. Naruto scowled when the teacher said nothing more.
"Well?" Naruto asked. Iruka glanced up before he grabbed his drink.
"Well, what?" He asked pretending he didn't notice Naruto's inquisitive look. The blond scowled staring at the other man for a long moment, until Iruka noticed and turned his head away, face blushing.
"His name's Mizuki Tora, and he's an orphanage director," Iruka said.
"You like him?" Naruto asked. Iruka scowled at the younger man.
"Of course I like him, I wouldn't be going out with him if I didn't." he snapped. Naruto chuckled lifting his hands in surrender.
"I get it, I get it," he said. "So will I ever get to meet him?"
"Not sure if I should if you're going to ask such a silly question like you did." Iruka hissed making Naruto chuckle nervously at the now glaring brunette.
"I said I was sorry Iruka-sensei," Naruto whined.