No time to rest, keep going full speed!


Opening: Daia no Hana (By Yoriko, Black Cat First Opening)

Japanese Lyrics:

Hajimari wa itsumo sou gunjou no sora no shita
Chikai wo tatete ima boku wa aruki dasu

Yeah, kin iro ni hikaru sabaku (moeru kaze)
Daia no hana wo sagashite (samayoi tsuzukeru)
Hajimete dareka no tame ni ima boku wa ikite iru

Mamoritai mono ga arun da
Mou nido to nido to ushina wa shinai you ni

Yeah, kono mune ni aru negai (yurameite)
Kanaeru tame nara boku wa (ikura demo kizu tsukou)
Waratte ite hoshii kara ima boku wa yaiba wo nigiru

Kirisaita kioku no naka afuredasu
Akai akai kage wo kiru
Kono tsume ga hibiwaretemo tsukamitore
Mamoritai taisetsu na mono nara

Dareka wo omotte naita

yoru ni saita daia no hana

Mamoritai mono ga arun da
Mou nido to nido to ushinai wa shinai
Nari hibike dare yori chiisaku hakanai
Dare yori tafu na kono kodou


Chapter 11: Beginnings of Friendship?

"So where should we head now?" asked Sakura, looking around. The four of them had left Ino's flower shop and were now trying to figure out where to go next.

"Maybe the hospital would be a good idea. These two are probably going to go to there a lot," suggested Ino, receiving a quick scowl from Naruto.

Just then, a small but noticeable rumbling split the air, startling the four. "What was that?" asked Naruto, looking wary.

"Uh…" Naruto, Sakura, and Ino turned around to see Takuya with a sheepish, embarrassed look on his face, scratching his head. "Sorry…that was my stomach."

The three of them did a faceplant, falling backwards. "How can you be that hungry?" exclaimed Ino, a shocked expression on her face.

"What? I used up a lot of my chakra in that fight against Hoshigaki, and I haven't eaten for a while. I just really need some food, Yamanaka."

Naruto got up, the usual fox-like grin on his face. "I know just the place…you like ramen?"


Sasuke lounged back in the hideout, thinking back to the battle with the eight-tailed host. He didn't show it, but he had been surprised that he had been able to extinguish Amaterasu's flames. Juugo had reverted to the age of a child, and Suigetsu was reduced to a watery state, and was now recovering in a tank. Karin had almost been killed by Sasuke's own black flames. If he had been too late…

The former Uchiha prodigy paused in his thoughts. He couldn't actually be getting soft…could he? Granted, he had felt a twinge of regret for leaving Team 7 earlier, but felt that all members of Hawk were equally valuable in destroying Konoha.

Sasuke was shaken out of his brooding thoughts by Juugo, who had changed back into his normal cloak. "We have a summons from Akatsuki. They say it's urgent."

Sasuke stood up. "Has Suigetsu recovered?"

"Yes. We're all ready to go."

"Good." Sasuke walked through the door, putting his Akatsuki cloak on, with Juugo trailing close behind. Karin and Suigetsu were already there wearing their Akatsuki cloaks, with Karin's hair tied back in the ponytail from before, and Suigetsu's sword attached to his back, with bandages around the area where Killerbee had nearly sliced it in two. Sasuke's attention was drawn to Zetsu, who he had never seen before.

"We'll be leaving immediately?" Sasuke said, more of a statement than a question.

"Yes…" Zetsu's white face replied. "But we'll be going our way." His black side finished.

"Your way?"

Zetsu didn't reply, only turned to face all four of Team Hawk and say, "All of you grab on, and hold on to each other."

Suigetsu and Juugo glanced at each other, then Suigetsu shrugged and grabbed onto the plant-like Akatsuki's shoulder. Juugo, Sasuke, and Karin soon followed, clinging onto Sasuke's sleeve. "Get off," Sasuke said coolly, glaring at her.

Karin pouted to herself and took Juugo's sleeve. With that, Zetsu and his passengers melted into the ground, muffling Suigetsu's startled swearing.


"Ichiraku's?" Takuya said skeptically. The four of them stood in front of the ramen stand, with Takuya's arms folded over his chest.

"Yeah!" Naruto grinned. "Ichiraku's the best! I eat here everyday!"

Sakura smacked Naruto lightly on the arm. "And we have to keep trying to get you off that diet."

Takuya shrugged, his expression curious. "Well, I have had a little ramen before. Back when I was training with my sensei."

"Who was your sensei?" asked Ino, glancing at the Uchiha.

"…I'll talk about it another time."

Ino frowned as she looked at him. 'Did something happen to his sensei?'

"Anyway, let's get some ramen!" The four Konoha shinobi slid onto the chairs. Teuchi walked over quickly.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite customer with his friends! How are you three doing?" Teuchi said, grinning widely. "And who's the new guy?"

"Jin," replied Takuya, reverting to his alias from before and pointed at his new headband. "I just got here and got this thing. We all ran into some trouble on the way here."

"Trouble? You mean the way part of the village got wrecked?"

"Ano…Yeah, I guess so."

"Oh…Well, it's always good to have a new customer. So what would you guys like?"

In a short amount of time, the four of them had a steaming bowl of ramen in front of him.

"Itadakimasu," the four said, picking up their chopsticks.

Takuya looked dubiously at the bowl of beef ramen in front of him, at Naruto who was now slurping down his first bowl, and back at his own. 'Well, it does smell good…' Takuya thought slowly, as he lifted some ramen up to his mouth.

The other three stopped eating and quickly watched with bated breath as Takuya took his first bite. Takuya chewed slowly, analyzing the taste, and swallowed; his eyes grew wide and he quickly resumed eating his ramen nearly as fast as Naruto had been.

"…Well, I guess that answers that question," Naruto laughed and ate the rest of his ramen with gusto.

Sakura and Ino watched, shocked, as Naruto and Takuya finished both of their ramen and held out their bowls and signaled Teuchi with a quick, "More, please!"

'Just what we need, another ramen freak…' Sakura thought wryly and resumed eating at a much slower pace.

Ino continued to watch Takuya eat, fascinated. 'How can he eat that much?' she wondered, as Takuya quickly started on his third bowl.


Five minutes later, Sakura and Ino had stopped at their second bowl, and Naruto at his fifth bowl, while Takuya was still eating, at a more measured pace, currently on his seventh bowl.

Naruto watched, amazed, as Takuya continued to eat. Had he eaten that much, he might've ended up throwing up or with a bloated stomach. But Takuya looked unchanged.

Ino couldn't hold it in and yelled, pointing a quivering finger at Takuya, "How can you possibly eat that much?"

Takuya looked up, his mouth full of noodles, and muffled out, "Waf, dif fuff ivf eally ood!"

"She means how can you eat that huge amount of food," Sakura said wryly. "Now try answering without your mouth full."

Takuya quickly slurped up the noodles, swallowed, then turned promptly to Naruto, "You were right, this is really good."

He then turned to the two kunoichi. "Lemme see…Well, I guess because of the training I've undergone, my body needs drastically more energy to keep going. So I need more food, and my metabolism has adapted by becoming more effective at drawing in energy from food as a result. Besides I haven't eaten since last morning."

"Okay, I get the metabolism part," said Sakura slowly. "But what kind of training did you get?"

"…All right, I'll give you an example. I'm sure you've experienced focusing chakra to your feet or at least one of the eight inner gates being opened before, right?"

At their three nods, Takuya continued, receiving an eighth bowl. "Well, in my case, I don't need to manipulate chakra to get really fast. Thanks to all that training, I'm already naturally faster than even a jonin as is. Even the opening of even one of the eight inner gates counts as manipulating chakra."

"How intense was this training?" asked Ino.

"…Well, I've had to fight to survive, been trained since I was a toddler by an S-class shinobi, and nearly died from the same training multiple times. So, pretty intense, I guess," Takuya said, shrugging.

Naruto, Sakura, and Ino sweatdropped at this. 'You have got to be joking…I'd never train like that!'

"So what you're saying is…" Naruto said slowly. "…you don't need chakra to be super fast?"

"Well, yes and no. I can use chakra to get faster, but I'm already stronger and faster than your average shinobi without using any chakra at all. No experimentations. No chakra manipulation. Just the results of hard training and effort," Takuya finished with a friendly smirk. "Of course, it takes more than fast feet and a hard punch to make a good taijutsu user. It's how you use them that matters."

The other three looked at each other, wondering what Takuya was hinting at, while the Uchiha in question surveyed them, slightly amused, as he ate his ramen. "Well, we might as well get back to Tsunade-sama's office," Sakura said, getting up and stretching.

"I'll pay for it," Naruto said quickly, taking out his frog wallet and paying Teuchi. Ino got up as well. The three of them started to walk off, Takuya watching them with an unreadable look on his face. A smile slowly appeared on his face, the type that Sasuke never showed, a genuine smile of simple contentment.

"Takuya-san?" Ino curiously turned around as she noticed that the Uchiha was not following, and Takuya quickly stopped smiling, though not before Ino noticed.

"…It's nothing." He turned to Teuchi. "Thanks for the meal."

As the four walked back to the Hokage's tower, Ino glanced at Takuya, who was now surveying the area around him, his hands in his pockets. '…He has a good smile,' thought Ino, hiding a small smile of her own. 'He should use it more often.'


Ending: FIRE! (by Wada Kouji, Digimon Frontier Opening)

Japanese Lyrics.

Kusubutteta mune ni nage irero fire!
Chiheisen e kokoro tobasu nda

Kara mawari no kimochi o keri agetara
Saki ni iku ze Tsugi no furontia

Kanau sa Kanau Hakkaten wa mou sugu da ze
Dekiru Dekiru sa Bakuhatsu shite miseru nda
Burn up'n go!

Gomibako o tobi koeta saki ni aru mirai
Hikari o matotte get a fire power!
Giragira to moe agare Hitomi no chikara
Kesenai yuuki de get a fire power!
Michi ga michiteru furontia e
Hashiri tsuzukeru nda "Kimi o tsurete"

Housoku nante hatsumei surya ii ndaro?
Jibun katte mo tama ni hitsuyou sa

Iu koto kike! Nige dashita kunaru my heart!
Hitori datte yara nakyanannai ze

Doko kara Doko e Toki wa nagareteku ndarou?
Wakaru Wakaru sa Gimon wa yamanai kedo ne
Get up'n go!

Kaidan o kake noboru saki ni aru jidai
Takamaru kodou de get a fire power!
Giragira to teri kaese Hadashi no taiyou
Makenai atsusa de get a fire power!
Michi ga michiteru furontia e
Hashiri tsuzukeru nda "Kimi o tsurete"

Gomibako o tobi koeta saki ni aru mirai
Hikari o matotte get a fire power!
Giragira to moe agare Hitomi no chikara
Kesenai yuuki de get a fire power!
Michi ga michiteru furontia e
Hashiri tsuzukeru nda "Kimi o tsurete"


Hopefully, third-to-last chapter I'm gonna be put up tonight.