"Go 'way."

He rolled over and pulled the thin sheet over his head, content in his little bubble of heat.

There was another knock, this one louder and accompanied by a voice. "Naruto, if you don't get out here, I'll come in there and get you."

He groaned again and burrowed further under the covers, trying to escape the familiar voice. He heard the poof of a ninja appearing and peeped out under the duvet. He could see the standard issue shinobi pants and the bottom of a jounin vest. The figure crouched down and he came face to face with the senbon sucking jounin he had eaten with last night. The brown-haired man grinned evilly and the next thing Naruto knew was lying in a soaking wet freezing cold bed.

"GAH!" He screamed, leaping off the mattress. "You fuck, that's not funny!" He glared at Genma who was laughing so much he was holding onto the door frame for support. He stomped into the bathroom, trailing cold water behind him as he did. As he got into the shower, he yelled over the sound of the water; "Did you come here just to get me out of bed, or was there something you wanted?"

"Mission." Came the chocked reply, followed by another fit of laughter.

"What the fuck has he been smoking?" Naruto muttered into the stream of water which fell onto his head.

10 minutes later Naruto made it out of the shower, clean, dry and glaring at Genma who was trying to think of a way to dry his bed off without setting the whole apartment alight.

"So what's this mission?"

"C-rank. You and me are going to take some scrolls to Wave country. I thought you might not want to be in the village for long amounts of time seeing as you've only just got back."

Naruto nodded. He really didn't want to spend a lot of time in the village at the moment. So far he'd managed to avoid running into anyone he knew, and he could really do with some time away from the whole 'jump out of sight if there's anyone I know' thing. He wondered what Tsunade was doing with the blueprints he found for her.

"You want anything to eat?"

Naruto was about to reply but his stomach beat him to it, growling loudly in the silence Genma left. The other man laughed and walked out of the door, heading towards the blonde's kitchen. Naruto watched the brunette go and followed him quickly, wondering if there was anything edible in his kitchen.

"Naruto, there's no food in here!"

"Well, I have been away for 2 years, I haven't really got round to shopping yet." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and grinned at the jounin.

Genma sighed. "I haven't had anything yet either. I was hoping to scrounge something off you but it looks like that's not to be. Ah well, we'll just have to eat out. Anywhere in particular?"

"ICHIRAKU!!" Naruto leapt in the air yelling out the name of his favorite restaurant.

"Are you sure you don't want to eat anything more healthy than ramen?"

Naruto shook his head wildly. He didn't care if he was acting childishly, he wasn't going to pass up the chance to get free ramen. "Ano, I haven't got any money..."

Genma smiled, flicking the senbon around his mouth. "Don't worry, I'll buy you breakfast. Ichiraku it would appear to be then." He closed the cupboard he had previously been looking into and turned back to Naruto. "You want to go pack your stuff. We'll be away for about a week. It's not urgent so we don't really need to run. I need a vacation anyway." He grinned around the metal stick and pushed Naruto towards his bedroom. "Don't worry about food. We'll be going through the forest the entire way there so there's going to be plenty to eat. If we really starve we've got some ration bars." He made a nasty face that Naruto laughed at before running off to pack.

*******************************

Naruto stretched and lay down on the cool ground next to the smoldering fire Genma was trying to light. He laughed as it went out and the older man cursed colorfully. "Perhaps you should just give up."

"You have a go then." Genma waved his arm at the smoking pile of twigs.

"Nah, I'm no good with fire jutsus. They never work." He put his hands behind his head and lent back on them, staring up at the starry sky through a gap in the tree branches over him. He heard Genma striking flints against one another and blowing at the twigs before he heard a click. He rolled over and raised an eyebrow at the lighter in the brunette's hand.

"So what? It's cheating but no one's gonna know are they?"

A few minutes later the fire was crackling merrily and Genma was whistling out of tune as he cooked the fish they had caught at a stream a few miles back. The smell of cooking fish made him realize how hungry he was and his stomach growled noisily in the almost silence of twilight. He blushed and put his hands over the emptiness of his abdomen.

Genma laughed and went back to the fish. "Don't worry. I've heard stomachs far louder than yours."

Naruto couldn't help but laugh with him and soon the pair were leaning against the trees surrounding them to hold themselves upright, both trying hard to remember what they were laughing at.