The library was everything I had hoped for. Once I had been cleared for access, I went at it with the fervor of an Akamichi heir in a candy store.

There were two things I was hoping to find. The first was a lead on how to recreate the Shadow Clone Technique for Naruto. It was easy enough to find scrolls on the three main academy jutsu. The Body Replacement Technique, the ordinary Clone Technique, and the Transformation Technique were all easy enough to find, which made sense given that I had been allowed 'academy level access.' But those were the only jutsu to be found. Regardless, I read those scrolls until I had they theory behind each memorized.

The second thing I wanted to know was whether it was possible to neutralize chakra. I knew that there were chakra absorption techniques and that yin-yang techniques were supposed to negate ninjutsu, but I wasn't going to find anything like that here. I'd have been happy just to find anything that would fuck with the Sharingan, really. The closest I found to that end had been some fascinating introductory texts on fuinjutsu.

Reading about the sealing arts was like reading IKEA furniture instructions. Contradictory, vague, and probably useless. Comparing them, every scroll essentially said you should do seals as described in the text, and every text had its own methodology. An evening spent reading about fuinjutsu meant heading to bed with a headache.

Until now, I had been operating under the assumption that chakra could do anything and that it was just a matter of finding the proper means of imposition, the right handseals or fuinjutsu to make it do what you wanted. None of the fuinjutsu scrolls directly contradicted my assumption, but they sure had their own ideas about how it worked.

One night, as if to prove I was right, I inscribed my seal into the paper of the scroll I had just read. If I wasn't trying to actually seal anything and just make a 'seal' with chakra, I figured it would be pretty easy just to draw a circle with my chakra and see if it would stick to the paper. With my finger, I drew a rough circle on an empty section of scroll, etching my chakra into the paper and leaving a curved black line that almost seemed like it had been burnt in by a laser printer.

However cool it looked, it didn't actually do much. I couldn't sense anything coming from it. I tried placing the palm of my hand over the small black circle. It still didn't do anything. It was only when I pushed a bit of chakra into my 'seal' that I could feel it existing on the scroll. I had also expected it to last longer than it did, and not fade out after a few seconds. It didn't seem to want to hold a charge. "Maybe there's more to this than I thought. Perhaps it's less like a computer program and more like an electric circuit?"


"Naruto, come with me. Dress warmly." I hadn't bothered knocking before entering Naruto's room. Ensconced in my favorite black hooded coat, I waited for him with my hands in my pocket and the hood pulled down over most of my face.

"Huh? What's up?" He seemed confused. It was rare for me to actually seek out Naruto. Rather than respond, I just started walking out of the room. I could hear, "Hey! Wait up!" along with a clatter as Naruto struggled to pull on a jacket. When he caught up to me, I was surprised to see a familiar orange tracksuit, although it was only the top half. He was still wearing shorts below the waist, missing the point of being told to dress warmly. Meh, Land of Fire never really got all that cold. He'd be fine.

Naruto dutifully followed me out the door of the orphanage. It was late evening and the sun had gone down, but I knew exactly where I was going. I plodded along with my walking stick, ignoring all of Naruto's "Where are we going? Are we there yet?" whining. We'd just gotten to the commercial district and I sorely wanted to clobber the blond boy to shut him up. Instead, I just gripped my walking stick tighter as I navigated the streets by the light streaming out of the windows of buildings and paper lanterns hanging over the streets.

Naruto had grown quiet as we wandered the streets. I glanced at him as he looked around, amazed at the sight of Konoha at night. Had he never been outside the orphanage? He was so distracted that he almost didn't notice me duck under a short curtain.

I sat down on a stool and pulled back my hood. Naruto followed my lead and sat next to me. I held up two fingers. "Two large chashu pork miso, please. Extra meat." I only had to glance at the menu before ordering. I grabbed a pair of chopsticks and placed them in front of me, waiting patiently.

Teuchi looked a bit surprised at how quickly I ordered. Or it might have been at how short his customers were. But he smiled and let out a cheerful "You got it!" as he started the order.

"What is this place, Haru? Why are we here?" Naruto finally spoke up.

I shushed him. "All will be revealed in time." I couldn't help but grin though. After all, I had been waiting for this moment for years. Naruto looked around the small ramen stand and eventually just watched Teuchi prepare our food. I habitually tied my long, red hair back in a ponytail, something I instinctively did before nearly every meal. I closed my eyes and waited patiently. So much planning, so much effort, all coming to fruition now.

"Here you go, kids. Dig in!"

He didn't need to tell me twice. "Itadakimasu!" I immediately started in on my bowl of ramen, stuffing noodles and meat into my face along with spoonfuls of hot, savory, salty broth. It was glorious. I didn't have time to turn my head to see how Naruto was doing but from the slurping sounds I could tell he was having the time of his life.

I definitely had to teach Naruto how to kick Nagato's ass so this place never gets destroyed. That tender, juicy pork, the perfect broth, hearty noodles that dissolved in your mouth, it was amazing. It was completely worth working myself to the bone at the Yamanaka's just to be able to afford Ichiraku's. This was some freaking quality ramen.

When we had finished and I had paid for our meal, I was leaning forward, resting my head in the crook of my arm on the table. Naruto was leaning back, his belly obviously distended.

"Haru, have I ever told you what a good friend you are?"

"Oh, Naruto, this is for you." I handed him his present. It was a triangular wallet, more a money pouch really, shaped like a fox's head. He unzipped it across the top and looked inside, finding the ryo I had stashed in there for him. "Happy birthday, Naruto," I said, happy and stuffed full of ramen.

"Haru...what?" He tried to hold back the tears. "I don't...Haru..." He was wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his coat. Sobbing, he told me, "You're a good friend, dattebayo..."

I zipped up my coat and pulled my hood back on. "We should get back before it gets too late." I hopped down off the stool and grabbed my walking stick as I left through the curtains of Ramen Ichiraku.

I could hear Naruto sniff one last time before he chased after me, yelling, "Hey, wait up!"